


I'm Sorry That I Pulled You Into A Different Dimension.

by BonnieBee101



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Adult Hermione Granger, Attempt at Humor, Bisexual Female Character, Black Hermione Granger, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Elves Love To Party, F/F, F/M, Female Friendship, Hermione Granger is a Good Friend, Implied Sexual Content, Mirkwood, Multi, Not Canon Compliant, Sexual Content, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2019-10-21 13:39:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 49,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17643866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BonnieBee101/pseuds/BonnieBee101
Summary: Hermione just wanted evidence for her research, she didn't mean to pull her friend into a different dimension, but helping some dwarves and then getting thrown into cells wasn't her idea. But nothing quite works out for them, noisy dwarves and offensively attractive elves for Hermione and Lovell to work their way around if they ever want to get back home.





	1. The Begginning.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction, written on my own. I'm still learning, but I hope that you guys enjoy it. It's not supposed to be taken seriously, it's more of a joke fanfiction. But let me know what you think and I'll do my best to improve, the first chapter is short, but the others will be longer, let me know if there's anything you would like to have added? Idk how this works haha.  
> Please have a look at the characters, Lovell Thomas- https://66.media.tumblr.com/2bb40854967ab326fe5378f7aca65e13/tumblr_pmiogcTcK91ucst07o1_1280.png  
> Hermione Granger- https://66.media.tumblr.com/1cc3d0e1ea820545729b854649f9fa68/tumblr_pmiogcTcK91ucst07o2_1280.png

Lovell Thomas liked to believe she was a good friend, reliable, kind and someone anyone could come to for advice or a chat. But she wasn’t feeling great right now, in fact, she felt rather annoyed as she had been looking for a book for more than three hours and this was her day off.

The book she was currently looking at wasn’t the one that Hermione needed, but in Lovell’s opinion, Hermione should have gone looking for it herself, at least her friend would know exactly what she was looking for. Lovell sighed and put the book back where it belonged. 

A familiar voice came from behind her, “I take it you haven’t found it then?” speak of the devil and she shall appear. Turning her head, Lovell saw Hermione standing against the opposite bookcase with a small smile on her lips and a guilty look in her eyes.

“You’ve found it, haven’t you?” 

Hermione pushed away from the bookcase, helping Lovell down from the step, “I’ll explain more once we get back home. I need to show you something.”

They left the bookshop and made their way back to their shared flat, not before Hermione stopped at Flourish and Blotts for some book about Magical Creatures, where they ran into Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood.

“Oh, there you two are.” Ginny made her way over with a smile, “I was wondering if you were still coming, you know, to my engagement party?” 

Hermione smiled easily at her friend, nodding her head, “Of course we are, wouldn’t miss it for the world and I don’t think Mrs-Weasley would be happy if we didn’t come.”

Luna was looking at Lovell with a smile, “What’s wrong with my aura today Luna?” she didn’t get an answer, only another smile and a hug from both Luna and Gunny before they were gone.

Lovell turned to Hermione, “Do we really have to go? You know Ron’s gonna be there right?” 

Hermione rolled her eyes, “Of course I know he’s going to be there, he is, after all, Ginny’s brother.”, she paid for her book and they crossed the street to their flat, walking up the narrow staircase and going in.

“Right, you haven’t been home for a few days, so you’ll excuse the mess won’t you Lovell?” but she wasn’t listening, because there was a portal in the middle of the living room and she was incredibly confused about it. 

“What, in Merlin’s name, is that!?” 

Hermione rushed to calm her friend, “This is what I was looking for, something that Kingsley asked me to look into and then, yeah, this happened.” She wrapped an arm around Lovell’s shoulder, rocking her gently side to side, trying to make sure her friend didn't start yelling, drawing the attention of their neighbours to their flat. 

“What exactly were you asked to look into? Something dangerous, I thought you’d given up on looking for dangerous things and here you are!” Lovell was embarrassed to admit, she was becoming teary-eyed.

“Kingsley asked me to look into the possibility of wizards in other dimensions, other worlds and I didn’t know this was going to happen! I brought you here because I trust you, I want you to come with me.”

Lovell looked at her friend as though she was crazy, “I’m not going with you into a different dimension! What if we die?! Or worse, can’t come back?” she threw herself onto the closest surface, an overstuffed couch and buried her head into the pillows.

“Oh Lovell, I wouldn’t ask this of you if I wasn’t sure we’d be safe and able to come back, I’m not stupid.”

“Oh, of course, you’re not stupid,” Lovell answered Hermione with a smile, “You’re completely out of your fucking mind!”

“Please Lovell, please,” Hermione had crouched down next to the couch, “I only ask because you’re my friend and if I'm being honest, I'm scared of going by myself.” She lay her hand on Lovell’s back and tried to soothe her.

“I just need to find out some information, Kinsley said that it might be the answer to how muggles have magical abilities.”

Lovell flopped over onto the back, staring at the ceiling, her eyes shifting to look at Hermione, Lovell knew this was something Hermione was passionate about, finding out how muggles could have magical blood runing through their veins. 

She closed her eyes with a sigh, weighting the pros and cons, pros were finding out about magical blood and the cons were they might die and nobody would be any the wiser. But could she live with herself, if Hermione got hurt?

“Let me pack my bag.”

Hermione jumped up with a huge smile, “OH! Thank you, Lovell, honestly I won’t let you down!”

“Ha, I’ve heard that one before, don’t forget to pack the important things, Hermione, in that amazing bag of yours.”

They did all their packing, essentials extra clothing, hygiene products and of course, a tent. Merlin knows where they would end up, so Lovell made sure to pack enough feminine products that Hermione had rolled her eyes. Especially that fancy muggle product Hermione had introduced her too, a moon cup. 

“Right, clothes, underwear, what else?”

Hermione pulled her bag away from her, “Nothing, you’ve packed everything you need and more, more than you probably need. We won’t be there that long.” 

Lovell looked around their flat, and quickly grabbed a knitted blanket from the couch, “Mrs-Weasley knitted this for us when we moved in together, it should come with us,” She folded it up and put it into her bag. She was thankful for Hermione’s undetectable extension charm, it was the only reason she had packed so much, nothing worked out the way they planned ever and it made sense to overpack. 

“Okay, I’ve got everything, and so have you.”

Hermione smiled, “Okay, let’s go.” Lovell laced her fingers with Hermione’s, she wasn't sure if this was a good idea, but she wouldn't forgive herself if Hermione ended up hurting herself or worse, actually getting herself killed in pursuit of this other dimension. 

She took one last look around their flat, reaching out for Hermione's hand. laced their fingers together and let herself be pulled into the portal.


	2. Found

They ended up in a forest of some sort, but something didn’t feel quite right about it, it was too dark, they couldn’t see the sky from where they were stood, but they couldn’t be sure that time worked in the same way as where they came from. 

“Hermione, I know you weren’t sure about where we would end up,” Lovell looked around once more, “But I’m thinking it wasn’t here.”

Hermione took a deep breath, even the air they were breathing didn’t feel right, like it was slowly trying to suffocate them. Lovell pulled her wand out from its holster around her thigh, and Hermione slid hers down her sleeve.

“Let’s walk, we can’t be that far from any villages.” So, they picked up their bags and began walking, Lovell prayed to Merlin there was a way out of this place, it was creeping her out.

They were wrong of course, they walked for hours before realising that the forest was still going for miles, they didn’t see anyone or hear anything. No birds singing, no sunlight and no small animals walking around.

“I think we made a mistake coming through that thing.”

Hermione stopped, looking around, “We’ll stop here for the night and figure something out in the morning.”

They started by putting up some protection shields, to keep from being seen and to stop anything from coming in.

They called slowly around the small space where they were going to stay, “Protego Maxima.”   
“Fianto Duri.”  
They stopped, looking around once more before erecting the tent and starting a fire. They weren’t comfortable though, something was prickling in the back of their minds, like they were being watched, which was impossible, considering how strong those enchantments were.

“Something doesn’t feel right, we should leave as soon as the sun comes up.”

Hermione agreed, they would finish their food, sleep and then leave, they couldn’t risk being found by anything dangerous, they needed to keep a low profile.

The night passed slowly for them both, in and out of sleep and convinced that there was something or someone there watching them, waiting for them to become vulnerable and attack them.

Sun rise came quicker, they rushed to get their things together, clean up to make sure nothing could follow them.

They didn’t get very far, strange a tiny figure up in the tress caught their attention, it was cutting down white objects and letting them fall to the ground, it stayed in the trees.   
They were going to walk away, until the white objects, looking like coffins began moving, ripping open the fronts and popping out were men, small men, Hermione whispered that they might have been dwarves.

“Should we help them?”

Hermione didn’t have a chance to answer, because huge spiders descended upon them, while those small men began fighting them, “Lovell, keep vigilant, we’re going to help them.”

They started firing spells, to drive the spiders away as quickly as they could, Lovell pushed one of them out of the way, “Diffindo!”, and the spiders was sliced in half. Nodding his thanks, the dwarf ran right back into the fight.

“Aguamenti!” the attacking spider was hit with a jet of water, throwing it back and it was swiftly killed by one of those closest to it.

Hermione watched as one of the younger looking dwarves was pulled away from the group, but she didn’t have time to do anything as she was swiftly thrown towards the group by another spider. 

She wasn’t expecting it, she landed hard on her shoulder and even without the pain she knew it was dislocated, but the spider didn’t have a chance to do anything, as an arrow seemingly out of nowhere pierced its head.

Lovell quickly killed the spider, pulling him up from the ground and pushing him towards the rest of his travelling companions. 

The fight continued for a short while, before what looked like the leader of the group was set upon by a large spider, nobody had a chance before a blonde man swings down a spider’s thread, landing on the spider and killing it. 

He slid on the forest floor under the spider facing the leader, slicing it in half, and came up kneeling with an arrow nocked in his bow and pointed at him

“Do not think I won’t kill you dwarf, it would be my pleasure.”

“Hermione!” Lovell was rushing towards her but was stopped by another figure holding an arrow to her face, “Get out of my way!”, Hermione didn’t need to see what happened next. Lovell had the sense not to use her wands, but quickly threw her leg up and kicked the strange man away from her.

Another was quick to intercept her, but her reflexes kicked in, and she quickly had him on his knees with her arm around his neck. He dropped his bow, tilting his head back, and caught Legolas’ eye, letting him know he was alright, and he watched Annael walk slowly from the side towards the woman, but almost as though she knew he was there, she tightened her arm around his neck.

“Back off weirdo.” 

 

The dwarves were completely outnumbered, but also surrounded, “Help!”, Lovell glanced over and saw the dwarf she had helped was being dragged away by a spider, “Kili!”. But she wasn’t about to let this guy go, he could hurt Hermione and she wasn’t going to risk that, Harry would kill her for sure.

She doesn’t pay attention to anything happening now, only focused on Hermione, the dwarves and those surrounding them with weapons. 

“Unhand him, now.” The voice came from a woman behind her, but Lovell wasn’t stupid and quick than the woman behind her could move, she had Apperated just behind the blonde one, to the shock of all expect Hermione. 

Hermione managed to roll onto her back, looking around the bows were not pointed at Lovell, “She’ll kill him, if you don’t back off.” She told them, causing a pair of intense blue eyes to swing to her amber ones. “Tell her to unhand him, immediately or I shall have them fire their arrows at her.”

A laugh sounded from behind him, “And risk the life of your companion? How honourable.” If Legolas was calm before, the was a raging inferno inside of him now, “We also have your companions, would you risk their lives also?”

Lovell caught the eyes of a bowl hair cut dwarf, he looked pleadingly at her, and she cursed under her breath before throwing the elf away from her and watched in amusement as he rolled into a standing position and re-joining his own companions. 

She walked slowly around the blonde one, keeping her eyes on him before kneeling next to Hermione, checking to see if she was okay.

Lovell turned to Hermione, “Are you okay? Your shoulder looks bad, want me to fix it?”, Hermione raised her other arm and smacked her friend over the head, “What were you thinking!? They could have killed you!” 

“Sorry, I was worried about you.” Hermione sighed at the response, watching as the blonde one made his way towards her and Lovell, “It’s okay, just don’t do it again okay?”

Lovell nodded her head, smiling at Hermione, “Are you angry with me?”, looking at her friend's shoulder before noticing everyone was watching them.

Hermione was confused, “No, why?” before Lovell was moving to stand in front of her, “Good, because you’re about to be really mad at me, look at the cute bunny.” She formed her left hand into a bunny before grabbing Hermione’s arm and pulling her shoulder back into place. 

Legolas flinched at the noise of both the shoulder and the woman, “What the fuck!”, Hermione yelled, kicking Lovell in her knee, “That really hurt, my poor shoulder.”   
He watched in disdain at the argument, turning to his companions, “Search them.” The dwarves were then herded together, and the elves began searching them. They were rough with the dwarves, pushing and pulling them around.

The elves began confiscating weapons, Legolas pulled two pictures from the pockets of one of the dwarves, “Hey! Give it back! That’s private!”

“Who is this? Your brother?!

“That is my wife!”

Legolas then looked at the next picture, sneering “And what is this horrid creature? A goblin mutant?”

The angry dwarf was quick to answer, “That’s my wee lad, Gimli.”

Lovell snorted, looking at Hermione, “What a dick.” She pulled Hermione to her feet, walking towards the group of dwarves before they too, were searched. Lovell was amused to see it was the one she’d had in a headlock, that was going to search her, and Hermione shot her a warning look.

She could hear the redhead and blonde dickhead talking to each other, she didn’t care for it, she didn’t know what they were saying. She honestly didn’t care, if they could get sneak away before being noticed it would be fantastic, but again, she was travelling with Hermione Granger, best friend of Harry Potter, troublemaker and causer of major issues 

Legolas looked at Tauriel, “Gyrth in yngyl bain?” (Are the spiders dead?), she turned her head towards Legolas, “Ennorner gwanod in yngyl na nyryn. Engain nar.” (Yes, but more will come. They’re growing bolder.)

The elves didn’t have much to search on Hermione or Lovell, neither were wearing their jackets and had hidden their wands from view, but it was obvious that they were trying to find something, but it was cut off by a sword being handed over to the blonde one.

He began inspecting the sword, turning angry eyes at the dwarf it was taken from, “Echannen i vegil hen vin Gondolin. Magannen nan Gelydh.” (This is an ancient Elvish blade. Forged by my kin.) 

“Where did you get this?”

The dwarf raised his head and glared at the elf, sneering “It was given to me.” This didn’t satisfy the elf, he pointed the sword at him “Not just a thief, but a liar was well.”  
“Enwenno hain!”

Lovell and Hermione were grabbed and pushed along with the dwarves, being led somewhere, but they couldn’t leave now. Lovell looked over to where their bags were hidden, “Hermione, our bags.” Hermione shook her head, “Don’t worry, I’ve got it under control.” And patted something around her neck, Lovell noticed the necklace now and she was sure Hermione hadn’t had that on before. What a sneaky witch.


	3. Hello

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm writing this fanfiction and all I can think is "Man, this is fucking shit." but it doesn't feel right but leaving it haha.

They were quickly led over a bridge and into some type of Palace, as they were passing through Lovell was the blonde guy talking to someone, she guesses to be a guard.

“Holo in ennyn.” (close the gate.)

They were then led through some type of raised wooden walkways, the entire place was built out of tree roots and into a subterranean caver, they didn’t have much time to think before they were being thrown into cells. 

Hermione and Lovell were thrown into separate cells before the doors were locked and all they could hear was the protesting of the dwarves.

“This is not the end of it! You hear me?”

“Let us out of here!”

“Get off me!”

Lovell was surprised to see one of the elves watching her, narrowing her eyes at him she turned to see who she had been locked up with, an older dwarf with white hair, a beard and a kind smile.

“Thank you, lassie, for helping us.” 

Lovell dragged her foot around the floor, shrugging “It’s no problem, we couldn’t just leave you, there could we?” she was met by a larger smile now before the sound of grunting and bodies slamming against the cell doors could be heard.

“What is your name lass? I am Balin, son of Fundin, at your service.” Lovell smiled at him, bowing her head at him “I am Lovell Thomas, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Leave it! There’s no way out. This is no Orc dungeon; these are the halls of the Woodland Realms. No one leaves here but by the king’s consent. 

They waited for a while, before the sound footsteps, the slamming of another cell door and silence before anyone spoke another word. Lovell’s cellmate walked towards the door, trying to look for someone, “Did he offer you a deal?” 

Lovell couldn’t see this person being spoken to, but she heard his reply “He did. I told him he could go ‘Ish kakhfê ai’d dur rugnu!’, him and all his kin!” Lovell gathered, from the reaction of her cellmate that this wasn’t a good thing to say.

Hermione, meanwhile, was still rubbing her shoulder, it was sore, and she was sure there was nothing to do about it. She sat on the small bed placed against the wall and glanced over at the dwarf she was sharing a cell with, obviously young, with dark hair and more of a stubble than a beard.  
She hissed, she’d pushed too hard and she was going to end up hurting it more if she didn’t stop.

“Miss, are you alright?”

Hermione nodded her head, “My should is just a bit sore, probably from Lovell putting it back in place earlier.” 

He nodded at her, looking around, “I am Kili, at your service.” He bowed low at the waist and smiled at her. “I’m Hermione Granger, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Kili kept glancing at the mortal woman that had saved his life, she was pretty for a mortal he supposed, although he had never really seen one this close before. She had dark skin, with extremely curly hair, which was pushed back away from her face, and her eyes were a beautiful brown, almost amber if caught at a certain angle. Her clothing though, unusual, trousers for a woman and a tightly fitted long sleeved shirt, and he tried not to focus on her body, but he was only one dwarf and he appreciated the finer things in life. 

They all sit in silence, there’s nothing to talk about and nobody really wants to talk, except for Lovell, “You know Hermione, this wasn’t your best idea.”

Hermione rolled her eyes, “Well I did tell you, that you didn’t have to come Lovell,” Lovell hmphed, “I know, but if it wasn’t for Kingsley, we wouldn’t be here.”

Lovell sighed, before the sound of footsteps cut her off, the blonde elf from earlier stopped outside her cell, opening it “You are to come with me.” She glared at him but was interrupted by Hermione before she could say anything, “Shut up and go.”

She allowed herself to be pulled from the cell, led up the stairs into a small room, where another elf was standing beside a window, “Father, I have bought one of the women found with the Dwarves.”

Lovell tried to keep Hermione’s advice in mind when the elf turned to look at her, and all she could really think about was how tall he was. He had to be the tallest person she had ever seen in her life, but he was almost too Malfoy looking and honestly, wasn’t doing him any favours. 

He turned fully around, “Leave us.”

Legolas bowed his head, glanced at the woman once more and left her alone to speak with his father, he knew the only thing he truly wanted, was answers and maybe she could give them to him.

“Tell me, why do two mortal women travel with a company of dwarves through these lands. ”

Lovell pursed her lips, “Well, the thing is, we’re not really travelling with them, more so, we just ran into them. Here, in your forest.” She nodded her head, it was better, to tell the truth, he might have some mind-reading abilities and she’d rather not be caught lying when there were literally armed guards outside this room.

He whirled around quickly, causing Lovell to take a step back, “Am I inclined to believe this? You were found within the company of dwarves, you saved them and defended them. Yet you claim to not know them?” 

Lovell shrugged, “That’s what I said.” She didn’t want this to end up with her staying in a cell, she had been stuck in Malfoy Manor with Luna Lovegood, that was bad enough but surrounded by small, smelly men and offensively attractive elves? No thank you. She’d annoyed him, she didn’t have to be a genius to see that, his eyes had narrowed at her and his lip curled to sneer at her, yes, she decided. He definitely had to be the Malfoy of a different world.

“I am not satisfied with that answer, you shall be sent back to your cell and once you have decided to tell the truth? Maybe you shall be released. You are a mortal; your life is short and will probably die here. With these dwarves.” He had a small smirk on his face, Lovell wasn’t too bothered, she was a witch after all, and she would live longer than any muggle would. 

“Bold of you to assume I actually care.” 

His son, the one that had bought her into the room was called back in to take her back to the cell, “Bring the other mortal woman with you.” Lovell turned towards him, eyes flashing in anger, but she didn’t have the opportunity to say anything, she was already pulled out of the room.

Meanwhile, Hermione was wishing she was anywhere but here, the red-haired elf had come back and was sitting with her cellmate, Kili. Honestly the sexual tension was so thick, she’d probably be able to cut it with a knife, she was tugging on the ends of her hair when she heard Lovell being brought back down to her cell, “You’re such a prick, let me go, I can walk just fine on my own.” Hermione laughed at the look on the elf sitting outside her cell.

“Don’t mind Lovell, she’s got a temper on her. That’s what four older brothers will do to you.”

The elf side-eyed her, and Hermione didn’t have it in her to feel insulted. She had spent most of her life in the Wizarding World, this side-eye was nothing compared to what had been said to her over the years, or the looks she had gotten while in school. The blonde elf from earlier came to stand outside the cell, looking down at the other one, who stood up quickly, bowed her head and walked away. “You are to come with me.” Hermione stood up, still clutching her shoulder, she hoped they might give her something for it, easier to use magic, but not the risk of the elves seeing her. The dwarves would keep it a secret, they had saved their lives after all.

She was led up the stairs, through some hallways and into a room where a man was sitting in a large plush looking chair, “Leave us.” She was pushed down into a chair before the elf left, sending her a look and closing the door.

“I have spoken to your friend, I would ask nothing of you but the truth of why you were found travelling, with a company of dwarves.” Hermione contemplated telling him the truth, but how could she trust him? How did you know he wasn’t a Death Eater in disguise? Anything was possible after all. But she knew, in the back of her mind he wasn’t, Harry had taught her the signs to look out for in identifying followers of the Dark Lord, though he was gone from this world. There will still those who followed his ideology. 

“Your friend spun a pretty tale, of arriving just in time to save the dwarves. She said that you were, in fact, not travelling with them at all.”  
Hermione sighed, glancing at him before tilting her head back, “She wasn’t spinning any tales.” She watched him, his face was blank, but she could see the confusion in the depth of his eyes, “We didn’t mean to come here, it was an accident and we couldn’t exactly leave any of them to die, could we?” 

He was still annoyed, probably from his short catch with Lovell, he slowly got up from his chair and began walking around the room, Hermione made sure to keep her eyes on him. He could pull out a wand and kill her quicker than she would be able to defend herself, their wands were hidden in her beaded bag. Safe from anyone finding them, and in turn was shrunk down to fit into her pocket. 

“Why would you risk your lives for those you do not know?” Hermione pulled a face, confused and slightly put off, why wouldn’t they save them if they could? That’s what they did, helped people and kept them safe. 

“Why wouldn’t we? It’s called being a good person and maybe you should take a crash course in it.” 

There was an angry gleam in his eye, because of what she said or maybe still reeling over his conversation with Lovell earlier, either way, she couldn’t wait to get out of there and come up with an escape plan. 

When he moved around her, she followed him even though her shoulder was killing her and all she wanted was something for the pain, and maybe something to get her off to sleep, but she wasn’t even willing to ask him now. Not with the look on his face, did this man ever smile? Although with the Malfoy aesthetic he had going on, she’d willingly bet all her money on a resounding answer of no.

“You shall return to your cell until you decide to tell the truth of your relations to these dwarves.”

Hermione nodded, not really wanting to go back to the cell, where she’d have to watch Kili make moon eyes at that red-haired Elf, although, Hermione couldn’t blame him. She was incredibly beautiful, even for a race known for their beauty and grace. She waited for the guards to come and escort her back to the cell, but there was something wrong, with the air around them, Hermione couldn’t be sure that anyone else had noticed, but she had and there was nothing good about it. 

“I don’t mean to be rude, but can you sense anything wrong?” Her question was met with confusion, a subtle look of confusion but it was there, and she was convinced he could feel it too.

“Father!” Legolas came running through the doors, where his father and the mortal woman were standing in silence, “There is a man here, he had injured some of the guards, but demands to speak with one of the mortal women.”


	4. Crush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't know what's happening, but I don't hate it.

There was an awkward moment after leaving the room, where Lovell realised, she didn’t know where she was going and had to turn to the elves leading her to ask for directions. 

It was more awkward when she realised one of them was the elf that she had attacked, she was cocky when she had Hermione there, but on her own? She was a child, and the disdain in his eyes reminded her of her brother when she pissed him off. 

“He is there.” The elf pointed at a dark figure ranting and raving, before Lovell narrowed her eyes and stepped back in shock, “ Mr Black?”

The man instantly stopped his ranting, walking towards her, “How the fuck are you still alive?” but she didn’t get an answer because she was quickly pulled behind the elves, who pointed their arrows at him. 

“Lovell Thomas, I wasn’t expecting to find you on the other side, call your guard dogs off, I just wanted to see who had followed me into the veil. Although, you look older than when I last laid eyes on you.”

Lovell bristled, “They’re not my guard dogs and you’ve been dead for almost nine years!” she wasn’t ashamed to admit that she was still hiding behind the elves, she couldn’t be sure that he was really there and he had attacked a few of their guards, “You can’t blame them, you did attack some of their people!” 

Sirius surged forward, “Who else is here with you?!” Lovell felt herself being pulled even further back away from the man, and covered by both guards, “Hermione’s here with me, in fact, it was her idea to come here.” 

“I want to see her.”

Hermione prayed to Merlin that Lovell was having a better time than she was, her shoulder was still killing her and if she wasn’t careful, she was certain these elves would kill her too and for the first time, it wouldn’t be because of something she had done. 

She estimated it had been around an hour after Lovell left that she came back in, looking behind her, “Hermione, you might want to come and see this.” A shiver went down Hermione’s spine, if it was a Death Eater, then Lovell wouldn’t have come back but it must have been something important. Lovell looked too uncomfortable for it to be anything good.

Thranduil and Legolas came to stand beside Hermione, watching as Lovell stepped out of the way and Hermione only managed a quick look at the man before she was laying on the floor, having fainted from the shock of seeing her best friend’s supposedly dead Godfather standing just behind Lovell.

“What the fuck?”

Lovell rushed to Hermione’s side, “When I mentioned you were here, he demanded to see you and I saw what he did to those guards and I thought it best if I did.”   
Hermione nodded her head, all she could think about was Harry, why was she given the chance to meet Sirius Black again, when his Godson didn’t have that opportunity. 

Legolas had his hand placed on top of his sword, eyes never leaving the face of the man brought to them, he couldn’t risk anything happening to his father and especially not if he was there to stop it. 

“Hermione Granger, as I live and breathe”

“Sirius, what, how are you still alive?” Hermione was still trying to work out how it was possible for a man, that had fallen through the Veil to be stood in front of her, “I mean, you died, we all saw it and here you are.”

There was an awkward silence, Lovell watched as Hermione and Sirius were reunited, it was almost bittersweet, how much would Harry pay to be able to experience his Godfather alive and well, though, she used the word well sparingly, Sirius looked terrible. 

“Your magic led me to you, I could feel it and I knew that I had to find out how two young witches found themselves in a world, where they do not belong.”   
The feeling of being back in Hogwarts was instant, being scolded by a Professor and Hermione knew that Sirius meant well, and he was right that they didn’t belong here, but she would raise Hell before anyone tried to send her back before she had evidence of wizards in this world.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but we’re here for Hermione’s research and I don’t appreciate you coming here and telling us we don’t belong here, because from where I’m standing neither do you!”

Hermione watched Sirius and Lovell yell at each other for a little while, watching the elves reaction to the profanities and raised voices and she wouldn’t blame them for being irritated, she would be pretty pissed off if someone came into her home and caused a fuss.

“That is quite enough!” 

Having been stood closest to the elf yelling, Hermione jumped in shock and watched as the elf in charge strolled towards Lovell and Sirius, “All I have asked for are answers as to why I have found two mortal women with a company of Dwarves travelling through my realm and I now have a clearly disturbed man demanding that which I too, wish to know.” 

“It’s because of me,” Hermione felt bashful as all eyes turned to look at her, “I’ve been asked to do some research into the possibility of wizards in different worlds, and I didn’t know we’d end up here but we did and I’m sorry if us helping those dwarves from dying wasn’t something that you wanted but we did and I will not be questioned as though I am a criminal!” the bashfulness she had felt at the beginning, quickly turned to irritation and she spotted Lovell trying to hide a smile behind her hand.

Lovell coughed, “I for one, think the three of us should be leaving, we don’t want to overstay out welcome do we?” but from the look shared between father and son, Lovell didn’t think that they would be getting out of here as easily as first thought, “Return them to their cells and if they should cause any difficulties. Kill them.”

“You can’t do that!”

Hermione watched in shock as Sirius was quickly hit over the head by one of the guards, Lovell was pulled away from the room yelling and Hermione felt her arms being seized as well, “Don’t touch me!” but she hasn't led the same way as her companions.

“The healer will see to your shoulder and then you shall return to your cell.”

The angry voices of the dwarves greeted Lovell as she was pulled back towards the cell she shared with Balin, “You touch me again, I’ll kill you!” she wouldn’t say she was thrown into the cell, but she was exactly loving pushed in either.

“When I get out of here, I’m coming for you again you dickhead!” 

She didn’t get an answer, just a cell door slammed in her face and angry voices yelling in response to being ignored by the elves.

“Lass, are ye alright?” she felt the hand patting her on the back, and looked towards Balin, “Yeah, I just never realised you could hate someone so much.”

“That’s it lass!”

“Next time one of ‘em grabs you, lass, you punch 'im in the face!”

She moved over the small bed at the back of the cell, sitting down, “I can’t see how this could get any worse.”

It was Hermione being brought back down to her cell that made Lovell rush to the cell door, trying to see if her friend was okay and those bastards hadn’t done anything horrible to her, “Hermione, are you okay? Did they hurt you? I’ll kill them all if they did anything to you.”

“No, I’m alright thank you, just had someone fix my shoulder,” hearing the cell door slam, Lovell knew that Hermione was back in her cell and when Legolas walked past her cell, she wanted nothing more than to stick her leg out and trip him up.

“Lovell, it’s fine my shoulder feels much better.”

Hermione couldn’t see her face, but form the angry muttering she knew Lovell wasn’t happy with her answer, Hermione was back in her cell with Kili and when that pretty redhead elf came back she watched in amusement as he lit up and started flirting with her.

“God, are you serious? They locked us up and you’re just going to sit there and flirt with her? Have you no shame?” Lovell’s voice came from somewhere to the left, and from the quick look of shock that covered her face, Hermione knew that Tauriel was surprised that somebody had caught on to her interest in the dwarf.

“Lovell, I clearly remember you flirting with Blaise Zabini after he called you a filthy Half-Blood.”

Tauriel was intrigued, looking down to the cell where the second mortal woman was being kept, “A Half-Breed? Are you not the daughter of two mortals?” instead of waiting for an answer, she walked down towards the cell and looked at the mortal.   
Lovell sighed when she saw Tauriel, why did she have to be so pretty, “I mean, technically neither of my parents are truly mortal, wizards and witches are just slightly different to mortals, we live longer, we aren’t affected by mortal illnesses and our bones are stronger too.” She smiled at the look of confusion on Tauriel’s face, “It’s hard to explain to non-magical beings.”

“But my mother’s Muggle-Born, like Hermione but my father’s a Pureblood and that makes me a Half-Blood, hence being called a filthy Half-Blood by Pureblood dicks.”

Tauriel sat herself down beside the woman’s cell, looking at her, by mortal standards she concluded that she was beautiful by their standards but there was something that drew her in, and she wasn’t sure if it was good or bad, “But, you are treated differently by those you share blood with?” 

Lovell nodded her head, looking at the elf, “There’s always been a hierarchy in the Wizarding World, at the bottom, you have the Magical Creatures, followed by Squibs, born to magical families, although they have no magical abilities themselves, Half-Breeds, half wizard or witch and a creature. They’re followed by Muggleborn, a wizard somewhere in their ancestry, followed by Half-Bloods, a muggle presence in the family and then the elite, Pure-Bloods, families that are made entirely from wizards.”

She laughed when she saw that she was getting not only a look of disbelief from the elf, but also from Balin, she didn’t know why she told the elf any of this, maybe she looking for a reason to talk to her or maybe she was just so bored that she wanted to speak about anything that she could.

“I am beginning to understand, there are similar orders here as well, I am a Silvan Elf, therefore I am not to the same standing as Prince Legolas or his father King Thranduil.”

“It’s all very complicated, Hermione has spent a lot of time teaching me about the world she grew up in, although my mother is a muggle, she doesn’t speak to her family anymore and so I was raised entirely in the Wizarding World.”

They spoke for a long time before Lovell noticed Tauriel was glancing up to where the music and singing was coming from, “What’s happening up there, I’m not keeping you from anything am I?”

Tauriel smiled at her, standing up and walking slightly back up the stairs, “It is Mereth-en-Gilith, the Feast of Starlight, all light is sacred to the Eldar, but Wood Elves love best the light of the stars.” Lovell smiled at her, noticing the look Tauriel had, looking up towards where Lovell would guess that she could see the stars, “Maybe you should head on up? I’d feel bad if you missed anything important.”

Tauriel turned towards her, noticing the mortal woman was smiling at her, “I have yet to tell you my name, I am Tauriel and from what I have heard, yours is Lovell?” thrusting her hand out towards Tauriel, Lovell smiled, “It’s nice to meet you.” But instead of grasping her hand, the elf just looked confused, “Oh, you shake it when you meet someone new, that’s what Hermione taught me.”

She chuckled quietly, taking hold of her hand and shaking it, “Then I shall see you once the sun rises, goodnight.”

Lovell watched her walk back up the stairs, sighing and turned to look at Balin, “I think I have a crush and now I don’t know what to do.”


	5. Wounds

It took a few hours for Sirius to wake up, after being hit around the head and he was not happy about being both knocked out and then thrown and locked into a cell, again.

“You need to calm down.”

Hermione and Sirius had gotten into a disagreement about whether or not they were going to breakout and leave, or stay and figure out where they actually were so they had somewhere to go.

“We should leave now, I will not be locked up again!”

Meanwhile, Lovell was trying not to fall asleep, because this place was disgusting and Merlin knows what else had been left to die and rot in this place, “We can’t just leave these guys here either, it wouldn’t be right.”

“Of course we would take them with us.”

“Yeah, we’re not monsters Lovell.”

Anything Lovell was about to say was interrupted by the jingling of keys, when an elf stopped outside her cell and she knew instantly who it was, “Hey pretty.” The glare she received was worth it, because never in her life had she seen someone so beautiful, look so angry at a nickname, but she was willing to bet it had more to do with her attacking him and not much to do about her little name for him.

“The King shall speak with you again in the morning mortal, do not think he will be as kind a second time around.” As quickly as he came, he was gone again and Lovell sighed, looking over to Balin, “When do you think we’ll be getting out of here?”

But he didn’t have an answer for her, because truly he didn’t know, “I’ll wager the suns on the rise. It must be nearly dawn.” Lovell wanted nothing more than to put faces to names because it was getting quite annoying hearing voices and seeing nothing.

“We’re never going to reach the mountain, are we?” 

Neither Hermione, Lovell or Sirius knew anything about a mountain, but they knew that they all had to get out of this place, elves might be pretty, but they weren’t nice and Lovell hated the thought of being stuck in this place longer than they really had to be.

“Not stuck in here, you’re not!”

The sight of Balin rushing towards the cell door in shock was surprising, considering he hadn’t really moved much, “Bilbo!”

“Who the fuck Bilbo?” Hermione couldn’t see anyone but assumed someone must be there unless all of the dwarves had lost their minds and were all hallucinating the same figure.  
“Shhh! There are guards nearby!”

Hermione didn’t have to imagine anyone, because soon enough the smallest person she had ever seen was unlocking her cell and letting her out, he then left to start unlocking the other cells and soon enough she was being pulled down the stairs with everyone else.

They were being led down, sneaking through the halls of the Woodland Realm, and they found themselves in a wine cellar, and Lovell was amused to see the elf from earlier was completely wasted and laying with his head on the table, along with a few others, empty bottles of wine surrounding them and this Bilbo was leading them further in.

“I don’t believe it! We’re in the cellars!”

“You’re supposed to be leading us out, not further in!”

Hermione was stood close to Sirius and Lovell, why they followed they didn’t know but they assumed that this Bilbo knew where he was going and Hermione didn’t fancy getting lost in the kingdom of a prissy elf King and his people.

“I know what I’m doing!”

Hermione grabbed hold of Lovell’s hand, they followed slowly behind the dwarves, Sirius bringing up the rear, keeping an eye out, just in case those elves woke up and attacked them.

They were sneaking into a large room with several barrels stacked sideways down the middle of the room, and all of them had one end open.

“Everyone, climb into the barrels, quickly!”

“Are you made!? They’ll find us!”

“No, no, they won’t, I promise you. Please, please, you must trust me!”

Lovell was trying to figure out how they were all going to fit in those barrels, sharing a look with Hermione and Sirius, “Can you guys, I don’t know, make another two?”

“I can try, but I don’t know how good they’ll turn out.”

Sirius stared at the two women for a second, “I’m very versed in Transfigurations, so you two can watch and learn.”

“He’s so arrogant,” Lovell said to Hermione, watching as Sirius demonstrated his skills in Transfigurations, “I mean, he’s cocky you know, for a man that’s supposed to be dead.” Hermione patted her on the back, keeping an eye on Sirius as we transformed two small rocks into barrels. 

 

But they didn’t have a lot of time, because there was a commotion in the distance, they elves knew that they were no longer in their cells and Hermione would bet all of her money on them not being very pleased with the idea of escaped Dwarves and mortals.

“Do as he says!”

They quickly made their way into the barrels, Lovell was instantly uncomfortable, they had only made two more barrels, so she and Hermione were squashed into one, and watched in envy as Sirius had his own barrel, “Lucky bastard.”

“Hold your breath.”

“Hold my breath? Whadya mean?”

No answer came, Lovell watched as Bilbo reached over and pulled a lever, and a part of the floor that they were all laying on top of tilted downwards into an opening, then slowly the barrels rolled out and fell several fell into a river that ran underneath the Woodland Realm. Lovell screamed, Hermione screamed and Sirius let out what he would call, a dignified yell, but the dwarves were reaching out for the barrels, keeping them still and Lovell thanked Merlin for the chance to get used to the water, “Hermione, I haven’t been this close to you in a long time.”

A yell and splash cut off Hermione’s answer, and the small head of Bilbo popped up and grabbed onto one of the dwarves barrels.

“Well done, Master Baggins.”

Bilbo, half drowned, waved his hand in thanks and manages to splutter out, “Go.” Before Sirius was reaching down and pulling him into his barrel, seeing as nobody else was reaching to help him.

“Come on, let’s go.”

They all slowly paddle with their hands as the river pulls their barrels along, as they emerged into sunlight, and it was Thorin yelling, “Hold on!” before they spotted the waterfall and plunged over and through the rapids, moving swiftly down the raging river.

The sound of a horn broke through to them, as they rounded a corner in the river, Lovell spotted what looked like a guards post built above the river, they too must have heard the horn and one of them quickly pulled a leaver that caused the metal sluice gate to block the exit. They came to a halt, unable to float any further.

The force of stopping had caused Hermione and Lovell to capsize, spluttering they popped back up and Lovell pulled Hermione towards some stairs built into the guards' post.

“No!”

The guards had drawn their swords when one of them was hit in the back by an arrow, suddenly several of the most hideous creatures Hermione had ever seen came out of nowhere killing the elven guards and then to her shock, more came out of nowhere.

“Watch out! Those’re orcs!”

The orcs quickly threw themselves at the dwarves in their barrels, Bilbo managed to kill one of them with his sword, and Hermione watched as Kili eyed the leaver, and she quickly yelled at him to stay where he was before she and Lovell were fighting for their lives.

“Diffindo!” Lovell watched at the orc she was aiming for was severed in half, before Hermione was fighting her way up the stairs, shooting spells at the orcs that were getting in her way, “Confrimgo!” the orcs were quickly engulfed in flames, and Hermione was finally at the leaver but she didn’t notice the orc pulling his bow and arrows out. Aiming right for her.

“Hermione! Watch out!”

Lovell fired at the orc, “Sectumsempra!” she just caught him on his arm, and she realised too late that the arrow was now coming towards her, Hermione was reaching to pull the lever and watched at the arrow made contact with Lovell.

Lovell was closer to Hermione, she used the last bit of energy she had to push Hermione away from the orcs coming straight for them, “You go, I’ll be fine.” Hermione cried out as she hit the water, resurfacing to see an orc leap over to where Lovell had fallen, but the orc never made contact. The redhead elf came rushing out of the bushes, hitting the orc with an arrow through the head, and killing the others with knives she had on her person.

Legolas and other elves rush through the bushes just in time to help Tauriel fight the orcs, Lovell reached up and pulled the lever, opening sluice gate and letting the dwarves and her friends though, but she didn’t have the energy to move, falling onto her back.

“Lovell!”

She blanks out to the sound of her name being yelled, but the pain in her leg was something that she had never experienced before like she was being set on fire.

Legolas watched the dwarves and two mortals float away down the river, not noticing the orc drawing its bow and aiming for him, but the arrow doesn’t reach him as Tauriel deflected it with her own arrow. As he spun around in surprise, Tauriel attacked and forced the orc to its knees. But she doesn’t have the opportunity to decapitate it with her knife, Legolas stopped her.

Tauriel! Dartho! Ú-no hono. Ho hebo cuin.” (Tauriel! Wait. This one we keep alive.)

Tauriel let the orc go, but her attention was drawn back to where the mortal woman Lovell lay, unresponsive and incredibly pale, “We will bring her back with us.” Nodding his head towards another elf, “Pick her up, we are heading back.”

Tauriel watched as the woman was lifted carefully up, flinching at the sight of the arrow still embedded in her side, she hoped that the woman would be okay.

They brought the captured orc to Thranduil’s throne room, as Legolas stood with his knives pressed against its neck, he watched his father pace around it.

“Such is the nature of evil. Out there in the vast ignorance of the world, it festers and spread, a shadow that grows in the dark. A sleepless malice as black as the oncoming wall of night. So, it ever was; so, will it always be. In time, all foul things come forth.”

Legolas pushed the orc closes to his knives, “You were tracking a company of thirteen dwarves. Why?”  
“That mortal woman you should be worried about, we struck her with a Morgul shaft.” He made eye contact with Tauriel, “The poison’s in her blood, she’ll be choking on it soon enough.”

Tauriel drew her knife, “Answer the question, filth.” Sneering at her, ““Sha hakhtiz khunai-go, Golgi!” (I do not answer to dogs, She-Elf.)

Legolas pushed the orc forward, “I would not antagonise her.” as Tauriel walked closer with her knife, “You like killing things, orc? You like death? Then let me give it to you!” she raised her knife, but was interrupted by Thranduil, ““Farn! Tauriel, ego! Gwao hi.” (Enough! Tauriel, leave! Go now.)  
He turned to the orc, “I do not care for one dead mortal. Answer the question. You have nothing to fear. Tell me what you know, and I will set you free.”

Legolas pushed his knives closer to the orc's neck, “You had orders to kill them. Why? What is Thorin Oakenshield to you?”

The orc sneered at him, “The dwarf runt will never be king.” He cackled at the look of confusion that briefly flickered across Legolas’ face, “King? There is no king under the mountain nor will there ever be. None would dare enter Erebor, whilst the dragon lives.”

Cackling, “You know nothing! Your world will burn!” 

Legolas was growing impatient, enough of these riddles, “What are you talking about? Speak!” the orcs head tilted slightly back to look at Legolas, “Our time has come again. My master serves the One. Do you understand now, Elfling? Death is upon you. The flames of war are upon you-“

Thranduil, whose eyes had widened upon hearing the answer, whipped out his sword and headed the orc, leaving it in Legolas’s hand. 

“Why did you do that? You promised to set him free.”

Thranduil looked at his son, “And I did. I freed his wretched head from his miserable shoulders.”

The body of the orc, shakes violently and Thranduil stomped on its leg to stop the shaking, “There was more that orc could tell us.” But Legolas didn’t receive the answer he wanted, “There was nothing more he could tell me.”  
Thranduil turned away from the body and his son, walking away and sheathing his sword, but Legolas interrupted him, “What did he mean, by the ‘flames of war’?” glancing back towards his son, “It means they intend to unleash weapon so great, it will destroy all before it.”

He turned to address the elven guards, “I want the watch doubled at all out borders. All roads, all rivers. Nothing moves but I hear of it. No one enters this kingdom, and no one leaves it.”  
He turned one last time to Legolas, “I wish to know when the mortal woman awakens, I will have my answers.”

Legolas bowed his head to his father, “At your command.”

Watching his father walk away, he quickly dropped the orcs head onto the floor and followed the same path his father took out of the room but headed towards the room where he knew the mortal woman to be kept and he knew Tauriel would also be there.


	6. Helpless

Gentle stroking her head was what bought her around, she could feel pain in her body, and she couldn’t remember where she was and when she opened her eyes she saw red hair and a pretty face.

“Tauriel?”

The hand moved down to cup her cheek, “You are awake, we were worried you would be unconscious for longer.” When Lovell tried to sit up, Tauriel was quick to push her back down, “You must not move, your body has not fully healed from its wound.” 

“What happened?” 

Tauriel sat back down beside the bed, “You were shot by an arrow while aiding the dwarves in their escape, King Thranduil was not pleased.” 

Tauriel looked towards the door, she stood up quickly just as the doors opened and King Malfoy walked into the room with his guards at his back.

“So, the mortal is awake and ready to answer the questions that I request?”

“Well, I mean, technically we did tell you the truth, so I don’t know what else I could tell you, but you didn’t lock me up in a cell again so I owe you. “She didn’t feel very confident, she was lay flat on her back and couldn’t really see the King without straining her eyes. But she did see him when he loomed over her, making her feel very small and insignificant and she had a brief flashback to Severus Snape doing the same thing once upon a time.

“Then shall we begin?”  
She wanted the bed to swallow her, “Yeah sure man, whatever you want.”

Finally they made it to the riverbank, they struggled out of their barrels climbing out onto a slab of rock jutting out a bit into the river, Hermione was losing her mind, worried sick and wanting nothing more than to head back to where Lovell was, but Sirius was having none of it, “She’s safer there, than she would be if she was with us.”

“I know that! But what if they lock her up in a cell again, or worse, kill her?” 

Some of the dwarves were looking quite guilty, although Hermione didn’t blame any of them, she was the one that yelled at Kili to stay where he was, and she was the reason that Lovell had gotten hurt. They didn’t need to feel sorry, Hermione wasn’t looking for anyone to blame either, only herself.

“I’m sorry lass, ‘bout your friend.” 

She felt so pitiful for a second, “I’ve been through some terrible things in my life but leaving Lovell behind is one of the worst feelings I’ve ever had.”

 

Hermione was walking back and forth, but they didn’t have much time to wait, those orc creatures could still be chasing them, and she needed to think and answering questions right now wasn’t exactly her top priority. 

She stopped by the river, looking back at Sirius, “She’ll be okay, right?” Her question was answered with a smile, nodding his head, “If I remember Lovell Thomas as well as I do, I feel sorry for those elves, having to put up with her.”

“There’s an orc pack on our trail, we keep moving.”

“To where?

“To the mountain, we’re so close.”

Hermione watched Balin, the dwarf Lovell shared a cell with a sigh, almost in agitation, “A lake lies between us and that mountain. We have no way to cross it.” Bilbo looked at him, “So then we go around.”

The voices got louder, Hermione moved closer to Sirius, “The orcs will run us down, as sure as daylight. We have no weapons to defend ourselves.” 

While one of the dwarves bent down to empty his boots of water, neither Hermione, Sirius nor the dwarves noticed a man, sneaking up over a pile of rocks and aim an arrow at the dwarf, his noise of distress is what brought their attention to the man. Causing them all to jump up, Dwalin leapt in front of the smaller one, holding a branch, which he raised and charged at the man, but much to the amusement of Sirius, the men let the arrow go and it was embedded in the branch. Kili raised a rock to throw, but this too was shot out by the man.

“Do it again, and you’re dead.”

Hermione watched as Balin approached the man slowly with his hands held up in the air, “Excuse me, but, uh, you’re from Laketown, if I’m not mistaken? That barge over there, it wouldn’t be available for hire, by any chance?” 

The man lowered his bow, and walked back towards his barge, and climbed onto it as the dwarves approached, “What makes you think I will help you?”

Balin lowered his eyes towards the man’s boots, “Those boots have seen better days.” But the man wasn’t paying attention, he instead was loading the barrels onto his barge, “As had that coat. No doubt you have some hungry mouths to feed. How many bairns?” 

“A boy and two girls.”

Balin smiled at the man, “And your wide, I’d imagine she’s a beauty.” But that smile quickly fell was the reply, “Aye. She was.”  
Hermione just wanted to get warm, but to risk using magic in front of another muggle would be dangerous because she wasn’t sure if the obliviate spell worked the same on these muggles as they did on those from her world. 

“Oh, come on, come one, enough of the niceties.”

The man’s head turned quickly towards Dwalin, “What’s your hurry?” but the question was met with aggression and defence, “What’s it to you?”

“I would like to know who you are and what you are doing in these lands.”

Balin chuckled, “We are simple merchants from the Blue Mountains journeying to see our kin in the Iron Hill.” 

“Simple merchants, you say?”  
Thorin glared at the man, “We’ll need food, supplies, weapons. Can you help you?”

The man looked at the barrels, noticing the damage from the attack from the orcs on their escape from the Woodland Realm.

“I know where these barrels came from.” Thorin didn’t look happy at the dismissal of his question, “What of it?”

“I don’t know what business you had with the elves, but I don’t think it ended well. No one enters Laketown but by leave of the Master. All his wealth comes from trade with the Woodland Realm. He will see you in irons before risking the wrath of King Thranduil.”

Hermione stepped forward this time, she didn’t want any of the dwarves saying anything that could cause them to lose this opportunity, but was interrupted by Thorin mouthing something to Balin, “Offer him more.” Balin didn’t even hesitate to ask, “I’ll wager there are ways to enter that town unseen.”

The man looked at him, “Aye. But for that, you will need a smuggler.” Balin stared at him, “For which we will pay double.” 

Lovell had the feeling that the King wasn’t buying her story, “I know, it does sound crazy, but I’ve seen some shit in my life and this is in the top five worst days of my life.” 

Thranduil had his eyes on the mortal woman, she did not have the same attitude as earlier, “Your companion, the other mortal woman, does she not know of the wizards living here?” he felt a twinge of amusement, at the look of annoyance on her face, “You did know of them did you not?”

Lovell looked at him, “No, because we’d have left otherwise.”

“You will remain here until I decide to let you leave.” He stood up from the chair, looking down at the woman, “Then you may join your companions, wherever they may have swum off to.”

“Can dwarves swim?”

She never received an answer, because all but Tauriel and the elf that she called pretty were still there, she should probably get his name, she couldn’t keep calling him pretty and that wasn’t a bad thing, because he was really attractive.

“Lovell, I must leave you now, but Elros will remain with you.” Ah, so that was his name, he didn’t look very happy at the thought of being left alone with her and she couldn’t say she blamed him, being left with her? Hell. 

Lovell nodded her head, she knew Tauriel probably had other things to do, but she liked speaking with her and asking questions about elves and not being treated like a child, “Okay, but you’re not going to be gone long, right?” but Tauriel was already gone, leaving her with Elros.

He didn’t say anything to her, just stood by the door as though he was waiting for someone else to come and relieve him of his duty, and she had a feeling that nobody was going to be coming back anytime soon.

She tried to sit up carefully, quietly, because she didn’t want him to look at her when there wasn’t anything for her to throw at him when he annoyed her, “Ouch.” But nothing ever worked out the way Lovell wanted it to, because he was by her side in an instant and pushing her back down with a stern glare. She was reminded briefly of Madam Pomfrey when she was ill and didn’t want to stay in the Hospital Wing for longer than she had too.

“You must not move, you will irritate your wound.” 

Lovell felt like a child because he ended up standing beside her bed like he thought she was going to try and sit up again. Which she would do, but there was no chance in Hell, he was going to find that out. 

“Your mortal body does not have to ability to heal itself from the poison. “

“I was poisoned!?”  
He had a slight look of surprise on his face at her yell, and the look of shock on her face, but there wasn’t anything for him to do, expect to keep an eye on her and make sure that nothing happened while he was keeping watch. Tauriel would have his head if anything happened to the mortal woman, she deemed important enough to ask King Thranduil to let her stay and recover. 

She closed her eyes, what’s the point of fighting it when there was a genuine pain in her body from the arrow, there was a sick feeling in the bottom of her stomach, yes, she was able to withstand many muggle illnesses. But this wasn’t an illness, there was poison in her body and there was a chance that her body wouldn’t be able to fight it off and there was a high possibility she could die here, alone. 

“You must rest, I have been charged with caring for you. If there is anything you require, you need only ask and I shall see that it is done.”

But she didn’t hear him, maybe she’d been tired this entire time and it was only just catching up with her, but all she wanted to do was sleep and Lovell just prayed that she actually woke up from this sleep. Meanwhile, Elros returned to his spot by the door, he had been asked by Tauriel to look after the mortal woman, though he himself couldn’t understand why this mortal woman was so important to her but would ask once she returned from wherever it was that she constantly disappeared too. 

His eyes roamed back to the woman, she was pretty for a mortal he supposed and had none of the grace or sweetness of an Elleth, but still, he felt drawn to her as though something was calling out to him for attention and it was most unusual. There were many pretty Elleths in the Woodland Realm that he could focus his attention, but he knew they wouldn’t capture his attention the way she was, and this was amusing in a way, he supposed, considering she was unconscious, laying protected and undisturbed by many who would question her presence. A sudden flare of irritation hit him, Elros was quick to remember that she had also escaped with those dwarves, why two mortal women would travel with such a questionable company was beyond him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still working on my writing, I hope this is okay? I'm trying to change things but not make them too....stupid? But I have a feeling it's far too late for that haha.


	7. Laketown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is quite longer than the others, but I'm not sure if that's a bad thing or if it's good? Let me know if you'd rather the chapters be shorter or if you prefer then this long?

“Holo in ennyn! Tiro I defnin hain na ganed an-Aran.” (Close the gate! Keep it sealed by orders of the King.) he turned to walk back inside but was quickly stopped in his tracks by a response from one of the guards.

“Man os Tauriel?” (What of Tauriel?)

He turned to face the guard, “Man os sen?” (What about her?) he dreaded the answer he would receive, he had thought that Tauriel would have gone back to the Healing Ward to see the mortal woman injured while helping the Dwarves escape.

“Edevín eb enedhor na gû a megil. En ú-nandollen.” (She went into the forest armed with her bow and blade. She has not returned.) 

The guard pointed out towards the forest in the direction that Tauriel had disappeared, and he felt anxiety fill him.

Hermione and Sirius stood side by side with the man, now known to them as Bard, because Bilbo had kindly asked him for his name in thanks for the help, they were travelling across the lake in his barge, and Hermione was worried about the fog and the ice that Bard was pushing away from the barge. Her worry was merited because suddenly a rock formation appeared out of the fog.

“Watch out!” 

But there was no need for the dwarf to yell anything Hermione realised because he was quick to move the barge between the rock formations, which she figured out to be ancient ruins. 

Thorin’s angry voice broke the silence, “What are you trying to do, drown us?”

Bard glanced over to him, “I was born and bred on these waters, Master Dwarf. If I wanted to drown you, I would not do it here.”

Sirius let out a bark of laughter, but he didn’t say anything, just looked amused at the interaction between the man and the dwarves, Oh I’ve had enough of this lippy Lakeman. I say we throw him over the side and be done with him.” 

Bilbo’s angry voice cut anything else off, “OH, Bard, his name’s Bard.” There were questioned gazes thrown his way, “How’d you know?” Bilbo looked at them, “Uh, I asked him.”

Dwalin turned his back on everyone else, focusing on Thorin, “I don’t care what he calls himself. I don’t like him.” Balin shook his head at his brother, “We do not have to like him, we simply have to pay him. Come on now, lade, turn out your pockets.”

The dwarves were quick to begin emptying their pockets, Hermione and Sirius were useless because they didn’t have any money on them, money and valuable were quickly given over to Balin, meanwhile, Dwalin and Thorin were still discussing the Bargeman, “How do we know we can trust him?” Thorin was quick to answer, “We don’t.” 

Balin had finished counting the money, but wasn’t happy with what he found, “There’s, um, just a problem: we’re ten coins short.” Thorin quickly turned to one member of the company, “Gloin. Come on. Give us what you have.”

Gloin quickly shook his head, “Don’t look to me. I have been bled dry by this venture! And what have I seen for my investment? Naught but misery and grief and- “Hermione looked over at the dwarves when Gloin didn’t finish his sentence and found the others had turned to stare at something in the distance, as the fog cleared Hermione could see a large mountain. This was obviously the mountain they were desperate to reach.

“Bless my heard. Take it. Take all of it.” A sack of coins was handed over to Balin. One he was obviously withholding, Bilbo coughed to gain their attention, gesturing his head towards Bard, who approached the dwarves on their side of the barge.

“The money, quick, give it to me.”

“We’ll pay you when we get our provisions, but not before.”

Bard was quick to quieten anything else, “If you value your freedom, you’ll do as I say. There are guards ahead.”

They all turned back, and they could see the rooftops of Laketown in the distance growing closer. 

Hermione and Sirius watched in mild amusement as the dwarves were almost forced back into their barrels, Sirius pulled Bilbo back in with him and Hermione thanked Merlin that she was comfortable in her own barrel.

Bard’s barge was quickly stopped at the dock just outside of the town, where he hopped off to speak to a man.

“Shh, what’s he doing?”

Bilbo peered through a hole in his barrel, “He’s talking to someone.” He noticed Bard pointing back towards the barge and towards the barrels, “And he’s…. pointing right at us!”

Thorin was anxious, while Bilbo watched Bard shake hands with the man he was speaking with, “Now they’re shaking hands.”

“What?”

“That villain! He’s selling us out.”

They all listened anxiously when suddenly they’re covered in dead fish and the smell was horrendous and they all immediately regret opening their mouths in regret. Bard quickly poled his barge toward the gate of the town, with all barrels on deck filled with dead fish, with the two mortals, a hobbit and dwarves hidden inside of them.

“Oh, God.”

The barrel closest to Bard was kicked, “Quiet! We’re approaching the toll gate.” 

“Halt! Goods inspection. Papers, place,” when the man glanced up, he looked surprised to see Bard, “Oh, it’s you, Bard.”

Bard brought his boat up to the gatekeeper’s office, who then stepped out to speak with him, “Morning, Percy.”

“Anything to declare?” 

“Nothing, but that I am cold and tired, and ready for home.”

Handing over the papers, the gatekeeper chuckled, “You and me both.” As he took the papers into his office, Bard looked around warily, “Here we are. All in order.”

Bard reached out for the papers, but they were quickly pulled away by a man stepping out of the shadows, “Not so fast”

He read the papers, looking over to the barge and barrels filled with fish, “Consignment of empty barrels from the Woodland Realm. Only, they’re not empty, are they, Bard?” the papers were quickly throwing the papers to the wind, approaching him, with some Laketown soldier’s behind him, “If I recall correctly, you’re licensed as a bargeman, not a fisherman.”

As he was saying this, he picked up a fish from one of the barrels and held it up to Bard, he doesn’t notice the dwarf eyes looking up from the gap where the fish was taken, “That’s none of your business.” 

The man turned to look at Bard, shaking his head, “Wrong. It’s the Master’s business, which makes it my business.”

“Oh come on, Alfrid, have a heart. People need to eat!” 

“These fish are illegal.” The fish Alfrid was holding was tossed into the water, commanding the soldiers, “Empty the barrels over the side.”

The soldiers were quick to do as they were told, each taking hold of a barrel and letting the fish fall into the water, “You heard him. Into the canal. Come on, get a move one.”

“Folk in this town are struggling. Times are hard. Food is scarce.”

 

Shaking his head, Alfrid answered, “That’s not my problem.” Making sure the soldiers were emptying the barrels into the water, “And when people hear the master is dumping fish back in the lake when the rioting starts, will it be your problem then?”

Alfrid and Bard stared at each other intensely for a few seconds, until Alfrid finally raised his hand to gain the attention of the soldiers, “Stop.” They did so, pulled the barrels back up and walking back into the building that they had come from.

“Ever the people’s champion, eh, Bard? Protector of the common folk? You might have their favour now, bargeman, but it won’t last.” Alfrid walked away, stopping by the building the soldiers had disappeared back into.

“Raise the gate!”

A large portcullis blocking the channel is raised, and Bard was quick to get back onto the barge and begin moving it through, as he passed through, Alfrid turned back towards him and shouted, “The Master had his eye on you, you’d do well the remember. We know where you live.”

Scoffing, “It’s a small town, Alfrid, everyone knows where everyone lives.” Bard pushed his barge through the gate, down the main channel through Laketown.

It wasn’t long before Bard docked his barge, he quickly looked around before knocking over one of the barrels, and a dwarf fell out alongside the dead fish. He continued to knock the barrels over, and before he could do so with the closest one, a head popped out, “Get your hands off me.”   
The remaining dwarves, two mortals and hobbit struggled out of the barrels, smelling like fish and grease from the fish they had been covered in. The dock keeper looked shocked, but Bard was quick to keep him quiet, handing him a coin, “You didn’t see them, they were never here. The fish you can have for nothing.”  
He led the company way from the docks, “Follow me,” as they walked through town they were quickly found by a young boy, “Da! Our house, it’s being watched.” Bard looked at the company and his eyes fell on Thorin and hatched a plan on how to get them all into his house.

Bard walked alongside his son to their house, as they walked a man sitting in a boar was staring at them, knocking his staff on a nearby wall. Upon hearing this knock, two boys run away from the wall, one knocking over some type of contraction which caused a hammer to hit a bell. Another man then lit his pipe, turning to two men fishing in their boat next Bard’s house. They swapped places just as father and son go into their house, but before closing the door, Bard tossed an apple at one of them, “You can tell the Master that I’m done for the day.”

Once inside Bard was greeted by his two daughters, “Da! Where have you been?” running up to him, they hugged, “Father, there you are. I was worried.” Bard quickly handed over his bag to his daughter, “Here’s something to ear. Bain, get them in.”

Bard looked out of the window, as Bain rushed down some steps to the lower floor of the house, which is open to the water. Looking around quickly, he knocked on the wall near the toilet three times. Dwalin’s head appeared through the toilet, “If you speak of this to anyone, I’ll rip your arms off.”

Dwalin pushed the seat up, pulling himself out of the toilet, slapping Bain’s hand away when offering to help him, “Get off.” Pointing up the stairs, Bain showered Dwalin where they had to go, “Up there.”

Bilbo’s head poked through the toilet, looking a bit flabbergasted, accepting Bain’s hand when it was offered to him, everyone else was quick to pull themselves out of the toilet and following Dwalin up the stairs. Bard’s daughters looked shocked when they saw the dwarves, “Da… Why are there dwarves climbing out our toilet?” the younger daughter looked excited as she watched the dwarves and others coming up the stairs, “Will they bring us luck?”

They were all quickly handed blankets to keep warm, considering they had just swan through freezing cold water and had then had to climb through a toilet, their clothes had been laid out in front of the fire, to dry them and Hermione wanted to lay herself in front of the fire. She was freezing, but carefully waving her wand, she warmed herself and Sirius rather quickly, making sure that nobody noticed. They needed to think of a quick exit, Hermione desperately wanted to get back to Lovell, make sure she was okay and most of all, make sure she was still alive. Only Sirius knew the true dangers of this world, having been stuck here for nearly a decade, she’d ask him for advice and pray that they could figure something out. 

Bilbo quickly thanked the girl, when she handed him a towel, his eyes were drawn to the two mortals stood close to each other, whispering, looking concerned and he knew that they were probably thinking back to the woman that had been left behind. They must have known he was staring, because they soon turned their own eyes towards him, as though they were picking apart his entire being and he wasn’t sure he liked it very much.

“Oi, small fellow. Come over here.”

A shiver shot up his spine, they surely wouldn’t hurt him in the presence of the company, no they would ask him to come outside and then kill him. But as quickly as that thought came, it disappeared, because he hadn’t done anything to warrant such a reaction, with that in mind he slowly made his way over, all the while their eyes never left his face. Hermione would have been amused, but even she was confused about why Sirius would call the small thing over, maybe because of how he’d gotten them all out of their cells.

“Tell me,” Bilbo shifted around, he could feel their eyes on him, even though he was smaller than both of them, they made him feel smaller than he ever had, “What exactly are you?”

But there was no chance for an answer because Thorin had advanced upon Bard, “You took our money. Where are the weapons?” looking around at the dwarves standing around him, he nodded his head at them, “Wait here.”

Bard disappeared down the stairs, to the lower part of the house. After looking around to make sure that there was nobody around watching him, he pulled a rope hanging off a small boat and pulled up a wrapped package that had been hidden under the water. Meanwhile, while this was going on, Thorin, Balin, Fili and Kili moved towards a quiet part of the room, speaking amongst themselves.

“Tomorrow begins the last days of autumn.” 

“Durin’s Day falls morn after next. We must reach the mountain before then.”

“And if we do not? If we fail to find the hidden door before that time?”

“Then this quest had been for nothing.”  
The door opened and Bard walked in, laying the package on the table as the dwarves, Bilbo, Hermione and Sirius gathered around. He loosened the wrapping and revealed a couple of handmade weapons, everyone was shocked, picking them up and looking at them in disgust. Sirius, meanwhile, was fighting to hold in his laughter, resulting in Hermione smacking his arm.

“What is this?” 

“Pike-hook. Made from an old harpoon.”

“And this?”

“A crowbill, we call it, fashioned from a smithy’s hammer. It’s heavy in hand, I grant, but in defence of your life, these will serve you better than none.”

A look of disgust came over the faces of Thorin and Dwalin, looking at each other,

“We paid you for weapons, Iron-forged swords and axes!”

“It’s a joke!”

Bofur was quick to throw the weapon back onto the table, the other following suit, “You won’t find better outside the city armoury. The Iron-Forged weapons are held there under lock and key.”

Hermione caught the look passing between Thorin and Dwalin, they were up to something and she wasn’t sure if the result would be what either of them would want, “Thorin,” she also caught the look that passed across Bard’s face at the mention of that name, “Why not take what is offered and go? I’ve made do with less, so have you. I say we leave now.”

“You’re not going anywhere.”

“What did you say?!”

“There are spies watching the house and probably every dock and wharf in the town. You must wait till nightfall.”

Hearing this, the anger that had swelled was gone, the dwarves settled down at Bard’s explanation, Hermione was still concerned. Why would anyone be watching Bard’s home, but she didn’t have a chance to ask him, he had disappeared outside.


	8. Injuries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think these chapters are going to get longer, but I don't want them to be so long that anyone reading my fanfiction will get bored.

Legolas had quickly checked on the mortal woman, stopping to ask Elros how she was firing, knowing that Tauriel would also wish to know, when reassured that she was fine and nothing usual had occurred while he was gone, he left the room.

Tauriel meanwhile was pursuing the orcs, coming to a rocky peninsula at the end of the river and at the banks of the lake. She could see Laketown, laying on the rocks were pieces of a deer that the had orcs had ripped and torn apart, but she could hear something behind her. She turned her head slightly, reaching for her bow, she whipped around quickly, dropping into a crouch with an arrow nocked to her bow. But it was only Legolas, stood, also with his bow drawn.

“Ingannen le Orch.” (I thought you were an Orc.)

“Cí Orch im, dangen le.” (If I were an Orc, you would be dead.)

Both lowered their bows, Legolas walking closer to her, “Tauriel, you cannot hunt thirty orcs on your own.”

“But I’m not on my own.”

Legolas smiled at her, “You knew I would come.”

Tauriel smiled at her friend, but it was short lived at what he had to say to her, “The king is angry Tauriel. For 600 years, my father protected you, favoured you. You defied his orders, betrayed his trust.”

“Dandolo na nin...e gohenatha.” (Come back with me...he will forgive you.)

“Ú-’ohenathon. Cí dadwenithon, ú-’ohenathon im.” (Subtitle: But I will not. If I go back, I will not forgive myself.) “The king has never let orc-filth from our lands, yet he would let this orc-pack cross out borders and kill our prisoners.”

“It is not our fight.”

“It is our fight. It will not end here. With every victory, this evil will grow. If your father had his way, we will do nothing. We will hide behind our walls, live out lives away from the light, and let darkness descend. Are we not part of this world?” she’d turned away from him at this point, looking towards Laketown, knowing that this would be something she would do, with or without Legolas.

“Tell me, mellon, when did we let evil become stronger than us?”

She could see the look of conflict on his face, everything that she had said was true, Legolas knew this too and he thought of the two mortal women, one of whom lay ill in his home and the other far away, the one who h had become interested in, but there was nothing to do about that now, when his friend had caused a conflict of interest. 

 

Discovering who Thorin truly was had shocked Bard to his core, running quickly back to his house, the setting sun causing the lake to glow orange as he recited the last line of the prophecy;

“The lord of silver fountains,  
The king of carven stone,  
The king beneath the mountain shall come into his own,  
And the bells shall ring in gladness at the mountain king’s return,  
But all shall fail in sadness and the lake will shine and burn.”

He burst through the door, but there were no dwarves, no little man and no humans, just his son rushing towards him, “Da! I tried to stop them-“

“How long have they been gone?"

Darkness had covered Laketown, the dwarves were sneaking through the town towards the armoury, hiding from the watchman and quickly ducked behind a boat as two of them walked by.

“Shh! Keep it down.”

“As soon as we have weapons, we make straight for the mountain. Go, go, go!”

With the watchmen gone from sight, Thorin pointed to Nori, who got a running start and ran towards a pyramid of dwarves, who have pressed themselves against the wall of the armoury and he’s able to get high enough that he’s able to reach the second-floor window and dive through.

“Next.”

Bilbo is quick to follow behind Nori, soon several of the dwarves are inside the armoury, beginning to collect weapons that are stored there. Sirius had come inside with them, he was too bored standing outside and he quite enjoyed watching the dwarves struggle with making no noise, so he moved out of the way, sitting down, pulling one leg to his chest and watching out of the corner of his eye as Thorin placed another weapon in the ever-growing pile of weapons in Kili’s arms. 

“You alright?”

“I can manage. Let’s just get out of here.”

Thorin looked at Kili, nodding his head before placing another sword onto the pile Kili was holding, but there was one thing he hadn’t notice, Sirius sitting in the doorway of the exit, picking his nails. As Kili turned around, he tripped over Sirius’ leg, falling with a cry of alarm. The weapons make a terrible clanging noise, as the dwarves both inside and outside looked around warily, in the distance, they could hear the watchmen cry out and the sound of running footsteps coming towards them.

Hermione watched as the dwarves began running away but were quickly stopped by the watchmen appearing with weapons pointed at them, herself included and she put her hands up, showing she wasn’t armed. Bilbo and the dwarves still inside the armoury were quick to grab weapons, but several other guards have appeared and pointed pikes at them too. The captain of the guard is holding Kili with a dagger to his throat, a red patch appearing on his leg, guiltily looking at Thorin.  
Alfrid poked his head out of the door to the Master’s mansion to see what the commotion was, he can see the soldiers dragging dwarves, a man and a woman to the mansion, with townspeople following behind.

“Get off me!”

He quickly closed the door and went to get the Master, the captain of the guard quickly lined the dwarves, man and woman up before the doors of the mansion. As guards opened the door of the mansion, the Master stormed out, putting his coat on.

“What is the meaning of this?”

“We caught ‘em stealing weapons, sire.”

“Ah. Enemies of the state, then.”

“This is a bunch of mercenaries if there was, sire.”

The reaction was instant, Dwalin surged forward in anger, “Hold your tongue. You do not know to whom you speak. This is no common criminal; this is Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror!” he quickly gestured to Thorin, who stepped forward and the crowd murmured in amazement at the sight of him. Hermione glanced over to Sirius, so he was someone important and from the look of it, someone who nobody expected to see anytime soon.  
“We are the dwarves of Erebor.”

People began craning their head to get a better look at the dwarves, Hermione wanted to hide behind Sirius, the people would begin asking questions about why they were with the dwarves, and she wasn’t sure if Thorin or any of the dwarves would vouch for her and Sirius. Why would they? They hadn’t done anything to cause trust nor mistrust.

“We have come to reclaim our homeland. I remember this town and the great days of old. Fleets of boats lay at the harbour, filled with silks and gems. This was no forsaken town on a lake! This was the centre of trade in the North!”

He was trying to convince them, Hermione realised, but maybe he was trying to convince himself too, speaking in earnest to the crowd and the responded just as he hoped they would, nodding in agreement to what he was saying to them.

“I would see those days return. I would relight the great forges of the dwarves and send wealth and riches flowing once more from the halls of Erebor!”

They were like moths to a flame Hermione noticed, as soon as Thorin had mentioned wealth there was an increase in the chattering, people looking excited, cheering and clapping at what they had been told, but she noticed the man standing outside the mansion. The Master she concluded, he looked like he was scheming, but the sound of a familiar voice calling out over the crow and Bard came striding forward, he looked angry.

“Death! That is what you will bring upon us! Dragon-fire and ruin. If you awaken that beast, it will destroy us all.”

That’s why he had looked so worried earlier, when he had disappeared, and they had left the house to the irritation of Bard’s children. This was about the dragon obviously, Hermione knew about the dragon, but why would they be worried about this creature, but the anxious whispering of the crow cut off her thoughts, she instead moved even closer to Sirius.

“You can listen to the naysayer, but I promise you this: if we succeed, all will share in the wealth of the mountain. You will have enough gold to rebuild Esgaorth ten times over!” there was the cheering again, these people would sway back and forth between excitement and anxiousness. Hermione couldn’t understand, why would they risk being killed by a dragon for some money? There were more important things in life, the main one being alive. She could see the Master nodding his head, looking excited at the turn of events, smiling.

“All of you! Listen to me! You must listen! Have you forgotten what happened to Dale?!”

The cheers died down quickly, there was an almost sombre silence now, it was uncomfortable, neither Hermione nor Sirius knew what this Dale was, maybe a different town from before. But there was no question that something had happened, something difficult to forget and it looked like that’s exactly what Thorin wanted, then to forget what happened and focus on the now.

“Have you forgotten those who died in the firestorm?!”

“No!”

“And for what purpose? The blind ambition of a mountain-king so driven by greed, he could not see beyond his own desire!”

By this point, Thorin and Bard had turned to look at each other in anger, the crowd getting louder, but there was nothing to do but watch as the Master stepped forward, “Now, now, we must not, any of us, be too quick to lay blame. Let us not forget that it was Girion, Lord of Dale, your ancestor, who failed to kill the beast!”

At this point, the Master was pointing at Bard, but Hermione couldn’t understand why they would be angry at this Girion, why would they put the blame on him, when it was well known that dragons desired gold above everything else. Thorin was already looking accusingly at Bard, and the crowd began to clamour. Bard looked away from the accusing stares of those present.

“It’s true, Sire. We all know the story, arrow after arrow he shot, each one missing its mark.”

The crowd was quick to turn against Bard, yelling at him in anger, but he ignored all of this as she strides forward and spoke to Thorin in a hushed whisper.

“You have no right, no right to enter that mountain!”

“I have the only right,” with this he has turned to face the Master of Laketown, “I speak to the Master of the men of the Lake. Will you see the prophecy fulfilled? Will you share in the great wealth of our people?”

They all watched quietly, waiting to hear what the Master would say, he was quiet for several seconds, before smiling and pointing his finger at Thorin, “I say unto you, welcome! Welcome and thrice welcome, King under the Mountain!”

The Master opened his arms in welcome, and the crowd once again erupted into cheers, hugging each other, while Bard watched on in silence, Thorin climbed up the few stairs and turned to face the crowd, still cheering in joy and excitement, all the while keeping his eyes firmly on Bard.

“What are we going to do Sirius?”

Placing his hand on Hermione’s lower back, pulling her closer and away from the crowd, they walked the same path back to Bard’s house, “We hope that Bard believes us and lets us stay until we can go back for Lovell.”

So they left the dwarves to their antics, walking the rest of the way to Bard’s home, knowing that if he wasn’t there, his children were there, and they just needed enough time to work out how to tell the man that they didn’t know anything about this. It didn’t take long to get there, but they had been beaten by Bard and he looked about as happy to see them as Hermione was when she saw Malfoy in the ministry.

“What do you want?”

“Look I know this looks bad,” Bard was closing the door on them, so Sirius rushed forward to put his foot between the door and frame, “Look, we didn’t know anything about this. We’re lost and we just need someone to talk to and maybe, maybe you’re the one that can.”

They waited for what felt like an hour before Bard moved and opened the door for them, he was still suspicious of them, of course, he was. Who wouldn’t be, when you found out the dwarves you can in your home mere hours ago, were planning on entering a mountain with a dragon in it? Hermione walked in, before sitting down and placing her head in her arm, she should have planned further ahead, before pulling Lovell into this place. Should have pinpointed where they could end up, and probably shouldn’t have bothered helping those bloody dwarves.

“Will you help them?”

Sirius looked over to Bard, who was stood against the fireplace, his children sitting at the dining table and watching this all unfold “I am telling the truth, Hermione ran into them before, in the Woodland Realm. But we didn’t ask any questions about what they were doing there. We just saw a way out and followed them.”

Hermione sighed, “They mentioned a dragon, but I honestly had no idea that they planned on letting one loose, especially so close to a town.” She shouldn’t feel guilty, that’s what she kept telling herself, how was she to know that’s what they had planned, Merlin, she should have just stayed in her cell, stopped Lovell from getting hurt and just finding a safe place to set up camp before exploring and finding Magic.

“Well, now you know, they have doomed us all.”

They sat in silence, the distant sound of music and voices making their way through, but it was broken by a small voice, “Why is your skin so dark?” nope, the awkward silence was back and it took Hermione a second to notice the question was directed at her, turning around she saw the younger girl staring at her.

“I’m black.” It was awkward way of saying it, but there was nothing else to say, Hermione black and she’d been raised by two confident black parents, and even in the Wizarding World, there was rarely any prejudice against those with darker skin colours, her thoughts quickly went to Blaise Zabini, a dark-skinned Slytherin in her year at Hogwarts. 

“Oh, I was just wondering. You’re very pretty, I’ve never seen anyone with skin that colour.”

“Tilda, you shouldn’t ask such questions, right da?”

Nodding his head to his eldest daughter, Bard inclined his head towards the table, beckoning Sirius and Hermione to sit with them at the table, which they did. There wasn’t much to discuss, everything had come out into the open and now there was nothing they could do because Thorin would still go to the mountain, he could wake the dragon and cause the death of all the people in Laketown. Bard still looked angry, and who could blame him, Hermione wished then that Harry was here because he would have known what to say, this wasn’t something that she was very good at, calming people and talking to them.

The night past quickly, before they knew it, the morning had come and the dwarves were leaving Laketown and heading to Erebor, Hermione had asked Sirius if they should go with them. Maybe there was something they could do, but she knew there wasn’t, they were so determined to get back to their home, it was almost like they had forgotten about the people living on the lake, the danger they would be exposed too.

“We’ll wait, don’t worry Hermione, what damage could a few dwarves actually do?”

But the banging on the door caused them to stop talking, watching as Bard moved to open the door, four of the dwarves were stood there, Kili hanging between their arms, “No, I’m done with dwarves. Go away.” He went to slam the door shut but was stopped by a foot. “No, no, no! No one will help us, Kili’s sick. He’s very sick.” 

Hermione saw Kili being supported by his brother and another, he looked extremely sick, but there was no reason for this. He had only caught himself on one of the swords, something else must have happened in the time between then and now. Sirius and Bard grabbed hold of him, pulling him onto the table, Hermione was quick to check on his wound, there was definitely an infection setting in, so quickly, “He couldn’t have gotten this from one sword, Sirius.”

“The swords haven’t been used in years, there’s a chance there was something on the sword that cut Kili, is there anything you can do?”

Her eyes locked on Sirius, they’d sworn not to use their magic unless completely necessary, but this wasn’t something either of them could ignore, Sirius was indirectly responsible for what had happened. Hermione watched as Kili’s face contorted in pain, before letting her wand slide from its place inside her sleeve. The reaction was instant, three dwarves jumping between her and Kili, they were, of course, allowed to react like that, Hermione probably would have too, if someone suddenly pulled a wooden stick out of nowhere and hovered it over their friend.

“Don’t worry, if I wanted to kill him, I’d have done so when we were trapped in that cell. I can heal it, but I’m not sure about the infection that’s set in.”

“Vulnera Sanentur,” the wound was slow to close up, it was deeper than she had first been led to believe, she concluded that if she was to pull the wound to look inside, there would be bone visible. She was worried about the infection, but if she could stop the bleeding then they could maybe do something about it, but she knew it might be something that neither she nor Sirius could deal with, none of them were healers or had even been trained to do so. 

The wound was closed when the aftershocks came, they all looked up at the sound and dust began falling from the ceiling, Kili moaned in pain, it had jostled the table and caused him discomfort. The children moved closer to Hermione and Sirius, who had stood still from the shock, Hermione of course, been around dragons, first in her fourth year when one had escaped and then the other when she, Harry and Ron were escaping from the Bank. But the last time, it was their escape from danger.

“Da?”

He walked over to the window, looking out towards where the mountain was, “It’s coming from the mountain.” Fili moved away from his brothers’ side, approaching Bard, “You should leave us. Take your children, get out of here.”

“And go where? There is nowhere.”

“Are we going to die, Da?”

“No, darling.” He had by this point come to his children, who clung to him, they were scared, and Hermione couldn’t think of anything worse, knowing that they could in-fact die and trying to reassure your children that everything was going to be okay.”

“The dragon, it’s going to kill us.”

Bard looked at his children in shock, before pulling away, reaching up and pulling out a black arrow, Hermione didn’t know the significance of this arrow, but from the reaction that the children gave, once they caught sight of it, led her to believe that it was something that could aid them in the fight that was surely to come.

“Not if I kill it first.”


	9. Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little longer, and I've definitely forgotten about Lovell haha! But I'll have her in the next chapter^^

Lovell hadn’t left this bed in days, she also hadn’t seen Tauriel either, which was a shame because she missed the pretty elf lady and there was only so much of a brooding male elf you could put up with before you combusted. Said elf was still standing by the door, she wasn’t sure if he stayed there all day, because she spent probably ninety percent of it sleeping. She wanted nothing more than for Hermione to pop out of nowhere and get her out of here, she’d even make do with Sirius now, her wound was still killing her, and she wasn’t sure that her body could fight off the infection as quickly as it would if she was back in the Wizarding world. She’d kill for some pain potion right about now. She tried rolling over onto her side, but quickly abandoned it when the pain shot through her, why did she always make such bad decisions, Hermione should here to sort her out, better yet why couldn’t Tauriel pop of out nowhere and be all pretty and charming.

“Do you know when Tauriel’s coming back? Not that I’m not enjoying your company, but there’s only so much glaring I can put up with.”

Ah, there it was, the glare to end all glare, she wanted to be angry at him, but honestly, she wouldn’t have been able to stand there for that many days and not get sick and tired of the person she was supposed to be watching. He walked closer to her, Lovell didn’t mind this, he might be brooding and angry all the time, but he was also incredibly attractive, and she didn’t mind being able to look at him closer.

“She had not returned.”

“Where did she go?”

“That is none of your concern.”

She huffed, crossing her arms, the sooner she got out of here, the better it would be for all of them. This elf was doing nothing to stop her attraction, with his stupid pretty face, his offensively attractive voice and the fact that he hadn’t allowed her to leave the bed was top of list. 

A sudden feeling of anxiety crept into her stomach, something didn’t feel right, almost like Hermione was in trouble, but she reassured herself that Hermione was perfectly safe and there was nothing to worry about, Sirius would protect her.

**********************************************************************************  
Hermione stood outside with Bard’s eldest daughter, Sigrid, making sure she was okay, she watched her lean over the balcony, but a sudden noise caused her to pull Sigrid away from the edge.

“Da? Is that you, Da?”

They looked around for Bard, but seeing no sign of him, Hermione pulled her back into the house, telling her that Bard was okay and that there wasn’t anything to worry about, because he seemed like he could handle himself and he was probably on his way back to the house. But the sound of something dropping behind them caused Sigrid to scream in shock, Hermione pulled her into the house, slamming the door, but the Orc stopped it with his sword. 

Hearing the scream Sirius and the rest of the inhibitions jumped up, another door was thrown open and another Orc came into the house, Oin threw a plate at his head, but then another broke through the ceiling and fell into the house. The first Orc swung at Sigrid, but Hermione quickly fended him off with a spell, blasting him back out through the door, quickly pushing Sigrid under the table, pulling Tilda under with her as she had begun throwing plates at the Orcs, the elder pulling the bench up as a shield to cover them. Fili fought one of the Orcs off. 

“Get down!”

An Orc had turned his attention onto Bain, who pushed the bench at it, knocking it over and he then grabbed the end of the bench, pushing it into the Orcs face. More Orcs began jumping through the hole in the roof, quickly approaching Kili, who had been moved onto the bed.

The sound of Sigrid and Tilda screaming caught Hermione off guard, quickly blasting an Orc away she turned quickly to help both girls, the Orc had flipped the table up, exposing the girls to its sight, another Orc leapt up onto the balcony, but was killed suddenly by Tauriel, who had appeared out of nowhere, she pulled out another knife and began killing the Orcs that had invaded the house, Legolas too suddenly appeared and helped Tauriel dispose of the Orc. Fili pulled Bain down out of the way of an approaching Orc, “Get down!”

Legolas shot an arrow at an Orc that had cornered Hermione, giving her no chance to defend herself, in any other situation, she’d have been rather annoyed, but there was nothing she could have done with the Orc slashing at her with a blade. Legolas stared at her for a second, drinking in her features, her hair was dishevelled, her clothes soaked in black blood, but still, she looked beautiful, but he couldn’t allow for distractions. 

An Orc grabbed Kili by his injured leg, causing him to cry out in pain, Tauriel threw one of her knives at it, piercing its throat, she and Legolas continued killing the Orcs, an Orcs voice cut through the chaos, “Ekinskeld. Obguranid!” (“Oakenshield has gone!”)

They all watched as the Orcs fled, Hermione watched in mild disgust as Legolas decapitated one of the fleeing Orcs, he watched as the remaining Orcs rushed through Laketown, running away or towards something none of them knew. But Hermione heaved a sigh of relief, it was over for now.

Bain was looking at Tauriel in amazement, “You killed them all,” but there was nothing for her to say, because Legolas had come back into the house, looking for her, “There are others, Tauriel, come.” But her focus had instead turned to Kili, who’s condition had quickly gone downhill, as if the fight was the turning point of the infection. Hermione was quickly by his side, looking at the wound in concern, “He’s dying.” Whatever it was that had infected him, it was doing it’s job, sapping away Kili’s energy, she looked over at Sirius in concern, how could such a simple wound, cause such a catastrophic infection. Tauriel looked shock, seeing for the first time that he was injured, probably from feeling the Orcs.

“Tauriel.”

Legolas, not receiving an answer, walked out of the door leaving Tauriel standing there. Hermione watched as he jumped from the balcony, onto the bridge and running away, she also watched as Tauriel looked away and began walking towards the door, but the sound of pain Kili released stopped her in her tracks, she looked after Legolas, but hearing a noise she grabbed her knives, but stopped once she caught sight of Bofur coming through the door, her eyes falling onto the Kingsfoil he held in his hands. 

“Athelas.” She worshipfully examined it, as though it held all the answers to problems she hadn’t been able to figure out, “Athelas..”

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to save him.”

She asked for a tub of water, where she tore the Kingsfoil and washed it, while Sirius picked Kili up and placed him on the table.

“Hold him down.”

Hermione and Sirius quickly bound him with a spell, stopping any sudden movement he might have involuntary done from the pain, Tauriel approached him holding the bowl of water, examining the scar on Kili’s leg, “The wound is healed, yet it festers inside. We will need to reopen it.”

Hermione walked over, “I can reopen the scar,” she remembered the severing spell that she had been taught in second year Charms class, and again in Fourth year, she knew she had to be careful, anything less than perfection and she could end up injuring him worse than he was, or worst case scenario. She’d end up killing him. Holding her wand over the scar, she moved it carefully, following the line already there, within seconds the wound was open and bleeding, but not red as it should be, rather the wound was bleeding black. Tauriel began chanting, pushing the soaked Kingsfoil into Kili’s wound, she closed her eyes and began chanting in Elvish.

““Menno o nin na hon i eliad annen annin, hon leitho o ngurth.” (May the blessing that was given to me be sent from me to him, may he be released from death.)

Kili quickly cried out in pain, causing Fili to hold him down, though he knew that Kili was bound by the man, he looked at Tauriel strangely, as she continued chanting, Oin listened in amazement, this was the first time he has seen Elvish healing. But the cries slowly stopped, Hermione was amazed, she had never seen anything like this.   
It was over soon, with Kili having been released from the spell that bound him to the table, Tauriel was quick to wrap his wound, Hermione was watching it all unfold, this is exactly how Harry and Ginny looked at each other before the had gotten together. Sirius was stood in the kitchen with Oin and Fili, watching a pot of water boiling.

“I’ve heard tell of the wonders of Elvish medicine. That was a privilege to witness.”

Hermione watched, a small smile forming on her lips as Kili reached out for Tauriel’s hand, entwining their hands together, she could hear them talking, but for some reason, there was something different about this scene. Like she was witnessing something from a fairy tale, she heard Kili’s rambled talking, as though he wasn’t even sure if Tauriel was truly there, “Do you think she could have loved me?”

Hermione looked away at this point, no need to ponder the love lives of others when she couldn’t even figure her own out, but everything came to a stand-still, the sounds of yelling and running had cut through the somewhat peaceful air. Hermione looked at Tauriel, there was fear in her eyes like she knew something was about to happen, was it possible that she could hear something, that they could not? Pulling Bard’s children towards the door.

“We have no time, we must leave.”

“Get him up.”

Sirius was about to pick Kili up from the table, the sounds of screaming coming through the window, but Kili was quick to pull away from any help provided to him by anyone, “I can walk.” But Fili was there to support him, holding his weight, helping keep the weight off his injured leg, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Kili wouldn’t be able to run if anything was to happen. Hermione meanwhile was looking out of the window, she could see the people running away from an unseen evil, but there was no doubt in her mind that what they were running from was a dragon. Bard was right, there would be death again this night. 

“Come on, brother. Come on, come on, let’s go.”

Tauriel had turned back to the children, making sure that they were going to follow, but none of them were making a move to actually leave, there was a stubborn look on Bain’s face, “As fast as you can.” But shaking his head, Bain refused to leave, saying that they couldn’t leave without their father, both girls nodded in agreement, but Tauriel wasn’t having any of it. Making sure that her point would get across, she pointed to his sisters, “If you stay here, your sisters will die. If that what your father would want?”

Bain looked at his sisters, the feat in their eyes, they all moved quickly to the door, rushing outside, Tauriel making sure to keep the children close to her, they rushed towards a boat, Bofur held his hand out to help them into the boat, “Down here, now!” Kili was the first to be pushed into the boat, followed by the children and everyone else, but a huge shadow came over them, their eyes catching sight of the dragon, spitting fire at everything and anything it could.

“Look out!”

Their boat was hit by a large one, holding the Master of Laketown and his servant, they watched in shock as he threw Alfrid off of his boat, but then he was quickly entangled in rope that was hanging from a building, watching as the window was pulled clear off and Bard came rushing out, Hermione watched as he rushed past them, he was gone for seconds, before reappearing having climbed onto a rooftop holding a bow and arrow, shooting them at the dragon.

“Da!”

But the arrows have no effect on the dragon, simply bouncing off of it, “He hit it! He hit the dragon!”  
Tauriel shook her head at Kili, “No,” turning to face everyone in the boat, they watched as Bard continued shooting arrow after arrow, none of them hitting their mark, “He did, he hit its mark, I saw.”

Hermione turned to Sirius, “We can do something,” but all she got in return was a sad shaking of his head, his eyes were on the dragon and the fire surrounding them as they tried to escape the chaos, “There’s nothing we can do to bring that dragon down, it isn’t the same as those from our world Hermione, these dragons? They are stronger and more dangerous.” 

“These arrows cannot pierce its hide, I fear nothing will.”

Hermione watched in slow motion as Bain reached down under some rags in the boar, watching as he pulled out a large black arrow before he grabbed a hook they had rowed under and swung off the boat, running towards where they had last seen his father. 

“What are you doing?”

“Come back! Bain! Come back!”

They all called out to him, yells of his name falling upon deaf-ears as he ran away from the safety of the boat and into the insuring chaos of dragon fire, “Leave him, we cannot go back.” For a few seconds, Hermione felt anger, who was this elf to tell them not to go after a child, his sisters crying for what would possibly be the loss of their father and brother, but the anger was misplace she knew. The elf was only trying to help them escape, to get the children to safety as she would have wanted had they been her children, the bell tower that Bard had climbed onto was destroyed by the dragon, and with it, any sight of Bard and his son. There was a tense silence as they waited for any sight of the bargeman and his son to appear but screaming of those still in their homes the only thing cutting through. 

A deep voice cut into her thoughts, looking around she saw that the dragon had stopped, for now, instea, he was standing on-top of buildings, her head shot around to look at everyone in the boat, “I’m sorry. That thing can talk?” but the sight of the dragon moving quickly towards something, Bofur pointed at it, “It’s Bard! He has Bain with him!” Tauriel watched as Bard released the arrow, as it soared towards the dragon, and struck its heart, the screams of the dying dragon shocked them all, the light leaving its body as he plummeted to the ground, landing straight on top of the Master’s boat, crushing him and all his gold.

They made their way towards the shore, Tilda and Sigrid rushed from the boat, calling out for their father, Sirius and Tauriel followed after them, Hermione helped Kili and the other dwarves out of the boat, “Thank you, for helping with my wound.”

“If anything, I probably made it worse. Where are you going to go now?”  
They had begun preparing the boat for another journey across the lake, to join their company at Erebor, but Kili didn’t answer her, instead, he headed off to where Tauriel was stood, but Hermione wasn’t going to watch their interaction, instead focusing on what everyone else was doing. Sirius had trailed behind Tilda and Sigrid, placing his hands on their shoulders when they received no answer to their cries. She also spotted Legolas coming up behind Tauriel, watching the dwarf and Tauriel looked at each other, she could detect slight jealousy inside the Elf, she knew it because that’s how she looked at Lavender and Ron when they rekindled their romance. 

“My Lord Legolas.”

“Take your leave of the Dwarf. You are needed elsewhere.”

When Kili handed her his stone, the one Hermione recognised it from their conversation in the cells of the Woodland Realm, watching as Tauriel’s eyes filled with tears and Kili walked away from her, getting back into the boat heading to Erebor, Hermione said her goodbye’s, telling them they she and Sirius might join them, once they helped Tilda and Sigrid find their brother and father. The dwarves left the shore, sailing away to the mountain to re-join the rest of their company and begin rebuilding Erebor.

“Da!”

Hermione watched as Tilda ran towards her father, him having finally appeared out of the crowd, looking worse for wear, but very much alive, “You’re alive!” Sigrid wrapped her arms around him, as he held his children close, finally being reunited after the dragon had attacked. 

“It’s alright.”   
The surviving people of Laketown watched the reunion, along with Hermione and Sirius, as people began muttering, a voice called out, “It was Bard! He killed the dragon! I saw it with me own two eyes. He brought the beast down. Struck him with a Black arrow!” the crowd cheered and began gathering around Bard and his family. Hermione and Sirius watched, laughing to themselves as Bard’s face showed only discomfort. 

“You’ve saved us all, bless you.”

The sleazy man Alfrid came, pushing his way through the crowd towards Bard, grabbing his arm and raising it above them, “All hail the Dragon-Salyer! All hail King Bard!” the man mentioned, quickly pulled his arm out of Alfrid’s grasp in disgust, but this didn’t stop the man from continuing to suck up in any way he could. Sirius had used this opportunity to pull himself and Hermione towards Bard and his family, she pulled Sigrid and Tilda closer to her side, anything could happen in these situations. 

“I have said it many times, this is a man of noble stock. A born leader.”

“Do not call me that. I am not the Master of this town.”

Bard looked around, trying to find the Master of Laketown, “Where is he? Where’s the Master?” but of course, he was nowhere to be found. 

“Halfway down the Anduin, with all our coin, I don’t doubt.”, pointing at Alfrid the woman continued, “You would know. You helped him empty the treasury.”

“No, I tried to stop him!”

“Liar!”

“Thief!”

“You’re a mongrel!” 

The crowd turned on Alfrid quickly, Hermione didn’t blame them, he looked and acted like an arsehole and they began advancing on him, getting angrier the more he tried to protest her innocence, as though he hadn’t been helping the Master escape with gold stolen from the people.

“I pleaded!”

“Do away with him!”

“Master, no!”

He had moved closer to Hermione and the children, but the crowd were still coming in strong and were still yelling in absolute anger at the man, “Think of the children!” without thinking, he grabbed hold of Tilda, “Will nobody think of the children?” Tilda kicked him, before being pulled away by Hermione, moving them all further away from the crowd. It was getting difficult now, the people were becoming angrier, grabbing hold of him and pulling him towards the wooded area.

“Hang him!

“To the tree with him!”  
“Enough. Let him go! Let him go!”

The crowd released Alfrid on Bard’s command, he didn’t look happy, “Look around you! Have you not had your fill of death?” getting up from the ground where he had been dropped, Alfrid put his arm around Bard’s shoulder, nodding his head in agreement but was quickly pushed back onto the ground by Bard in disgust.

“Winter is upon us. We must look out for our own, to the sick and the helpless. Those who can stand, tend to the wounded, and those who have strength left, follow me. We must salvage what we can.”  
“And then what? What do we do then?”

Looking around at the people, Bard took a deep breath, “We find shelter.” Hermione walked over to him, pulling the children alongside her, “We can help fix something that are broken, if the things are important.” He nodded his head in thanks, hugging his children once more before leaving to salvage anything he could, Sirius went along with him. Hermione smiled at the children, pulling them back towards the people, “You should stay here,” both girls protested, but she was quick to shush the both of them, telling them that there was nothing for them to do, unless they could help heal those who were wounded, after a time of protesting both girls agreed to help.

People were quick to begin gathering what they needed, Hermione stood with Bard now, she and Sirius wanted to help as best they could, but there wasn’t much they could truly do, with so many people milling about and pulling their weight. She hadn’t expected to see Legolas again, coming up behind Bard, “Where will you go now?” Bard looked towards the mountain, “There is only one place.”

Hermione felt conflicted, “Are you sure?” he looked at her, opening his mouth but was interrupted by Alfrid again, “The mountain? You are a genius, Sire. We can take refuge inside the Mountain. It might smell a bit of dragon, but the women could clean that up. It’ll be safe and warm and dry, and full of stores, bedding and clothing, the odd bit of gold.” Hermione turned away from him in disgust, that’s all people cared about in this place, more so Alfrid than the people of Laketown, was gold, gold and more gold. “What gold is in that Mountain is cursed. We will take only what was promised to us, only what we need to rebuild our lives.” He dropped some wood into Alfrid's arms, but the pathetic man just threw it at an old woman.

“News of the death of Smaug will spread through the lands.”

“Aye.”

“Other will now look to the Mountain for its wealth or its position.”

Bard turned fully now to face Legolas, “What is it you know?” Legolas just shook his head, “Nothing for certain. It’s what I fear may come.”


	10. Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huh, I keep working on things for later chapters and forgetting about this haha.

Hermione had been trying to talk to Tauriel for the past few hours, all she wanted to know was whether Lovell was okay and when she could go back for her, but every time she tried, Legolas was there glaring at her! if anyone should be yelling it should be her, next time he did it, she might have to physically stop him. 

“Tauriel! Can I please speak to you?”

The elf in question turned around, looking at the mortal woman that had helped her to heal Kili, she looked worse than she did before the dragon attacked, there was blood on her clothing and her hair was piled on top of her head in a mass of dark and beautiful curls. 

“Yes?”

“I was just wondering if Lovell was, you know, okay?”

A smile came over Tauriel’s face, “When I last saw her, she was recovering well.” there was a breath of relief from Hermione, that’s what she wanted to hear, that Lovell was recovering, but that didn’t mean she was safe or anything. But again, again, Legolas had to come and interrupt, not by saying anything but he would just stand there staring at her, and frankly, it was beginning to piss her off, “So, she’ll be okay to travel? I’m going to send for her,” but from the look on Tauriel’s face there was a possibility that that wouldn’t be happening, “Although she recovers, she may not survive the journey here, I am sorry.”

The people of Laketown were preparing to leave, but Hermione knew that neither of the elves would be coming with them, not from the look on Legolas’s face, he must have known something was going to happen and had come to warn them? Or maybe he didn’t care and was just wanting to take Tauriel back to the Woodland Realm.

“You saw something out there?”

“The Orc I pursued out of Laketown. I know who he is. Bolg, the spawn of Azog the Defiler. A Wargpack was waiting for him on the outskirts of Esgortath. They fled into the North. These Orcs were different from the others, they bored a mark I have not seen for a long time. The mark of Gundabad.”

“Gundabad?” 

Legolas nodded his head, “An Orc stronghold in the far North of the Misty Mountains.” Hermione didn’t know what any of those things were, but from the look on their faces, she concluded that it wasn’t good. But they were interrupted by the arrival of another elf on horseback. 

“My Lord Legolas, I bring word from your Father. You are to return to him immediately.”

Legolas beckoned Tauriel towards him, “Come, Tauriel.” The elf riding the horse looked uncomfortable, not that Hermione knew what was going on, they spoke a strange, musical language and she wanted to learn it. “My Lord, Tauriel is banished.” Whatever had been said to them, caused a strange look to pass over both Legolas and Tauriel’s face, yeah, Hermione concluded it was definitely not good.  
“Banished?” Legolas looked back at Tauriel, he’s known her for long enough, that he knew the sadness that plagued her thoughts now, “You may tell my father if there I no place for Tauriel, there is no place for me.” Hermione wanted to laugh, this had to be the most dramatic thing she’d seen in a long time, it was both awkward and hysterical. 

“Legolas, it is your King’s command.”

“Yes, he is my King, but he does not command my heart.”  
He turned away from the elf, instead again beckoning Tauriel to come with him, “I ride North. Will you come with me?” Tauriel followed behind him, looking confused, “To where?”

“Gundabad.”  
They rode off quickly, leaving Hermione alone with the elf from before, she looked up at him, he didn’t look pleased and honestly, she couldn’t blame him. Imagine coming all this way for someone and they just leave you there, she wondered if he was getting paid? If not, then she’d petition for him to get money. Before he turned his horse around, Hermione called out to him, “Are you going back to the Woodland Realm? Because I need to come with you.” 

He didn’t let her leave with him, instead he just riding away on the horse, back to where he came from and Hermione was so pissed off, she almost cursed him, but she was born better than that. She was, however, one hundred per cent certain her mum would have told her to do it.

Sirius called her over, telling her that they were leaving now, heading towards Dale, he told her it was the city positioned in front of Erebor. The place where Bard’s ancestor had come from, it would take a few days to get there, more probably with all the injured and the elderly. But it was something, maybe once she got there, she could try and figure out how to get Lovell back and probably, open a portal that would take them all home. Harry was going to have a heart attack when he saw Sirius. 

**********************************************************************************  
She was going to be old and grey by the time she got out of this bed, she’d been allowed out once, for a bath and that’s about it. Elros was still the one keeping watch over her, but he would sometimes swap around with another elf that was just as attractive, even if she wasn’t allowed out of bed, at least she had something to look at. She wondered if people died of boredom, was she still in immediate danger of dying from infection? Yes. But there was also a chance that the boredom would kill her off first and she didn’t want that to be her legacy. Dying of boredom, it just sounded, so, boring. 

She didn’t really know how long it had been, there was only the rising and falling of the sun for her to keep a vague account of time, but she’d quickly lost interest, because she didn’t have anything to mark the days with anyway, she wasn’t too keen on getting her wand out anyway. Tauriel had slipped it under her pillow when she’d come to say goodbye, though Lovell had assumed she was coming back. Just having it there was a comfort, knowing she had some protection if anything was to go wrong, and with her luck, it was going to go bad and she wanted a fighting chance. 

The sound of the door opening cut off her musing, Elros stood there with the King and another elf, she pretended to see the emotion in the Kings eyes, but he was such a Malfoy and if there was one thing that Malfoy’s had been trained to do, it was not showing emotions. Maybe he was an alternative version of who Draco Malfoy was. But she didn’t want to think about them anymore, not when there was a chance that she was going to die. Why would she want her last thoughts to be about him?

“We have received some news,” he strolled into the like he owned the place, which he did technically, but she still would have liked a warning, “It seems the dragon is dead and the people and Laketown are making the journey to Dale.” He had come to stand by her bed by this time, looking down at her. “The dragon Smaug is dead, the company of Thorin Oakenshield have either perished or they live, but we shall go. There is something that I much desire in that mountain and I think, you may be the one to help me.”

“I don’t know how I can help you, I barely even know them.”

He sat down in the chair beside her, staring intently at her, like he was trying to read her mind or something, but good luck, she thought to herself, she’d had enough training to stop people entering her mind without consent. The silence was worse than being left bedbound, at least she could speak to herself, but having someone sitting beside you and not saying a word? Worse. 

“You will come with us, the Healers have told me you have recovered far quicker than they had first thought, we make way for Dale, where I shall speak to this King Under The Mountain. All I desire is what I am owed.”

Lovell knew she didn’t really have a choice, and she owed him, because he had let her stay here and heal, plus, if she left then there would be no need for Elros to keep watch over her and Hermione would probably be there too.

“Okay, when do we leave?”

**********************************************************************************

Hermione sighed in relief, they had finally reached Dale after days of travel. She all but threw herself onto the floor for a rest, quickly followed by Tilda, who had been keeping close to her the past few days. She hoped everything worked out, that Bard got the gold that they were owed, she and Sirius could help them rebuild before leaving. They had it all planned out, get Lovell and go home, Hermione wanted to start searching for wizards and witches, but her heart was calling for home.

“Come on, keep moving.”

“Sire! Sire! Up here!”

Bard followed the sound of Alfrid’s voice up onto a walkway, he was pointing towards the mountain, “Look, Sire! The braziers are lit.”

“So, the company of Thorin Oakenshield survived” 

“Survived? You mean there’s a bunch of Dwarves in there with all that gold?”

Bard shook his head at the man, “I shouldn’t worry, Alfrid. There’s gold enough in that mountain for all.” He quickly turned to the people walking around below him, “Make camp here tonight. Find what shelter you can. Get some fires going.”

Hermione pulled Tilda to her feet, “Don’t you worry, I have a tent we can use Tilda, if you’re tired?” it was silly really, asking such a young child if they were tired when they have been walking for hours, Hermione could see the girl was tired, pale skin flushed, dark circles under her eyes and she was struggling to keep away. She called Sirius over, letting him know that he was more than welcome to stay in the tent with them, it was large enough for the three children and a few more if need be.

“Alfrid, you take the night watch.”

Bard was quick to join Hermione and Sirius, who let him know that Tilda was going to be sleeping in the tent with his two other children, which he agreed too. They have, after all, saved the lives of his children. The rest of the day passed quickly, with everyone finding shelter and staring up fires to keep warm, Hermione pushed the tent door open, looking around, the last time she had used this, was during the hunt with Ron and Harry. She checked on Tilda, Sigrid and Bain, they were all asleep in the same room, not wanting to be apart and she couldn’t blame them, Bard had come in during the night, because he was lay in between his children, holding them close. She had a short flashback of her own father doing the same when she was scared, but it was a distant memory now.

But they were struggling, they didn’t have enough food, the children were hungry and people were quick to voice their thoughts, “These children are starving. We need food. We don’t last three days, Bard. We don’t have enough.”  
It started a conversation, of course, the children, woman and the wounded took precedence over anyone else, but for some reason, Hermione had a feeling something was wrong. Like they were being watched, but there was nobody there. Until she heard the voice, the familiar, comforting and welcoming voice of her friend.

“Hermione!”

She couldn’t see Lovell, but she followed her voice, in the direction that Bard has disappeared, and she was shocked to find an army of elves there, with the King and Lovell, who looked ill. She was paler than usual, but she caught sight of Hermione coming around the corner and tried to climb off the horse she was sat on.

Hermione rushed to catch her, holding her close, she didn’t realise how empty she had felt until she had Lovell wrapped up in a hug. She ignored everything happening around them, the people of Laketown offered aid by the Elven King, but Bard was calling for her and Sirius to join him. An elf stepped forward to bring Lovell towards him, but Hermione wasn’t having any of it, Lovell didn’t look well, she was obviously sick.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

He looked insulted, at her talking to him, or being addressed as so, but right now Hermione didn’t care, she hadn’t seen her friend in what felt like months and now she had her back, she was being pulled away by some haughty elf.

“My Lady must remain here.”

“Sorry Hermione, I promised I’d help them, you can come with us. I think he wants to speak to the hot man.”

Hermione shook her head, “His name is Bard,” she moved closer to the two of them, keeping an eye on everything happening around them, noticing the elves handing out supplies to the townspeople. “Come on, they went into that huge tent over there.” It didn’t take them long to walk over to the tent, Lovell was all but being dragged. They hadn’t even gotten very close to the tent when the sound of raised voices were heard, Hermione recognised the voice as being Bard’s and he didn’t sound incredibly happy at whatever they were talking about. She pushed the flaps side and they walked in, Bard looked unhappy, but the king looked as he always did, displeased. 

“Wait! Please, wait! You will go to war over a handful of gems?”  
“Should we wait here? I don’t want to intrude on, whatever is happening in there.”

Thranduil sneered at the man, “The heirlooms of my people are not lightly forsaken.” He strutted forward to his chair, before sitting down and picking up his wine glass, Hermione wondered how someone could make drinking wine look so uncomfortable. She wanted to be anywhere but here in this moment, “We are allies in this. My people also have claim upon the riches in that Mountain. Let me speak with Thorin.” If anything, Thranduil looked more irritated, “You would try to reason with the Dwarf.”

“To avoid war? Yes.”

“Can I sit down? I feel like my insides are shutting down.”

Hermione was quick to lead Lovell to a chair, carefully helping to lower her down into it, but the elf from earlier was there, standing behind Lovell and Bard walked out, Hermione knew she needed to go and find Sirius, but the thought of again leaving Lovell surrounded by elves wasn’t going to happen.

“I promised to help him,” Hermione looked down at Lovell in confusion, “The king? He saved me and I owe him a life debt. Do you know about those?” 

“No?”  
“A life debt is something you owe when another person saves your life. So, if I didn’t repay him for saving my life, I could die, or worse. Lose my magic.”

“I’ll be right back.”

She didn’t want to leave Lovell in there, but she needed to find Sirius, find out what they were going to do now that they were all together again. Maybe now was the time to start preparing the portal to take them home, even without finding anything for her research, Hermione would rather go home. It was a lost cause, nobody had mentioned magic and her bed was calling for her, much like it had the last time she had been away home.

She spotted him fast, jumping onto the back of a horse and riding after Bard, they must have been doing to speak with Thorin, but Hermione knew it wasn’t going to end well, something about the Dwarf King rubbed her up the wrong way. She had heard Bard mention something about a curse, cursed gold, she put it into the back of her head to ask him about later. But for now, she’d head back to make sure Lovell was okay, Sirius and Bard could wait for now and it wasn’t like she could chase after them without a horse.   
She turned around, heading back in the direction she had come from, taking time to watch the elves milling around and helping those that needed it, which was kind of them she guessed, but she knew that kings didn’t give things for free, it would come with a price and she wasn’t sure if the people of Laketown could pay it.

Hermione found Lovell where she had left her, slumped down in the chair, the King still drinking his wine and the other elf still standing behind her, his eyes drifting down to her every now and then like he was worried about her. Hermione was confused, the look in his eyes hinted at something more, but she didn’t have it in her to care at the moment. Instead, she focused on Lovell, having been apart for so long, she wanted to make sure that she was okay, “How are you feeling Lovell?”  
placing her hand on Lovell’s head, she didn’t have to wait long for a response, “Yeah, except for the pain in my side I’m doing alright.”

But they were cut off at the return of Bard, he didn’t look happy as he entered the tent looking everywhere but at Thranduil, “He refused.” Hermione didn’t know what he had refused, but she had a feeling that it was to do with the gold that had been promised to them by Thorin. That’s why Bard had left in the first place, to try and get the gold that had been promised to them, but maybe the Dwarves here were like the Goblins? Greedy.


	11. War

Hermione was helping the people of Laketown prepare for what she didn’t really know, but when Sirius had pulled her aside and asked her to help them, she did so. He said something about Thorin not looking the same as he had when he’d left Laketown, some dark in his eyes and he hadn’t needed to get close to him to see that whatever was happening inside Erebor, it wasn’t going to end well for anyone. So she helped the people get armour ready, she watched as the Elves taught the people to fight, but her attention was diverted when the sound of a horse riding in and a voice, “Let me though! Make way!” but all she saw was an older man, riding a horse and wearing a pointed grey hat. But Alfrid came running down some stairs, probably hiding away so he didn’t have to do anything himself.

“No, no, no! Oi, pointy hat!”

The man turned to look at Alfrid, and Hermione had to cover her mouth because she was pretty sure that his look was one, they all gave when Alfrid came into the picture.

“Yes, you. We don’t want no tramps, beggars or vagabonds around here. We’ve got enough trouble without the likes of you. Off you go. On your horse.”

Instead of listening to Alfrid, the old man looked around, as though he was searching for something or someone of importance, “Who’s in charge here?” Bard came from the tent where the Elven king was, looking distrustful of the old man, “Who’s asking?”

Hermione didn’t hear anything else, the old man had come off of his horse and whispered something in Bard’s ear, a look she couldn’t make out came over his face and he was quick to lead the older man away and into the tent. But she wasn’t about to let Lovell be alone with another strange man and so she rushed into the tent, ignoring the looks she received and went to Lovell.

“You must set aside your petty grievances with the Dwarves. War is coming. The cesspits of Dol Guldur have been emptied. You’re all in mortal danger.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I can see you know nothing of wizards. They were like winter thunder on a wild wind, rolling in from a distance breaking hard in alarm. But sometimes a storm is just a storm.”

Hermione’s head quickly swivelled around to look at the old man, a wizard? How could this old, crazy looking man be a wizard? But then she remembered some of the wizards that she knew, and a small spike a shame built up in her stomach. But was this who she had been hoping to meet? He didn’t look like much and she hated failing anything. 

“Not this time. Armies of Orcs are on the move. There are fighters, they have been bred for war. Our enemy has summoned his full strength.”

“Why show his hand now?”

“Because we forced him. We forced him when the company of Thorin Oakenshield set out to reclaim their homeland. The Dwarves were never meant to reach Erebor. Azog the Defiler was sent to kill them. His master seeks control of the Mountain, not just the treasure within, but for where it lies, its strategic position. This is the gateway to reclaiming the lands of Angmar in the North. If that fell Kingdom should rise again, Rivendell, Lórien, the Shire and even Gondor itself will fall.”

Hermione wasn’t the only one that looked confused, Bard looked as though he didn’t understand either, but Thranduil? From the look on his face, he knew how dangerous this was, “These Orcs armies you speak of, Mithrandir, where are they?”

Hermione zoned them out, instead focusing on Lovell, who was still sitting in the chair she’d been left in earlier, with that Elf still there too, but right now she wanted to know what had happened when Lovell was stuck in the Woodland Realm. They had a quiet conversation, Lovell explained everything, no they hadn’t been keeping her as a prisoner, she’d been bedbound because of the wound and no, they weren’t trying to use her to do anything bad. The relief that Hermione felt was immense, at least Lovell seemed to trust the Elves, for what reason, Hermione couldn’t say, but if Lovell was going to trust them, then she should too.

“Since when had my council counted for so little? What do you think I’m trying to do?”

“I think you’re trying to save your Dwarvish friends. And I admire your loyalty to them. But it does not dissuade me from my cause. You started this, Mithrandir, you will forgive me if I finish it.”

Thranduil turned to one of his Elves standing guard at the entrance of the tent, “Are the archers in position?”

“Yes. My Lord.”

“Give the order. If anything moves on that mountain, kill it. The Dwarves are out of time.”

“You, Bowman! Do you agree with this? Is gold important to you? Would you buy it with the blood of Dwarves?”

But Bard wasn’t persuaded, “It will not come to that. This is a fight they cannot win.” Turning to Hermione he opened his mouth but was cut off at the sudden appearance of a small man, panting and looking rather red in the face, “That won’t stop them. Do you think the Dwarves will surrender? They won’t. They will fight to the death to defend their own.”

“Bilbo Baggins!”

Hermione was surprised to see the little man that had helped them escape the cells of the Woodland Realm, but only one person didn’t look happy to see him, of course, Thranduil had moved back into his makeshift throne, looking at Bilbo as though he were nothing but a speck of dust.

“If I’m not mistaken, this is the Halfling who stole the keys to my dungeons from under the nose of   
my guards.” 

Here Bilbo looked slightly embarrassed, “Yes. Sorry about that. I came to give you this.” Hermione watched as he pulled out a beautiful jewel, she was surprised to see the look of shock in both the eyes of Mithrandir and Thranduil.

“The Heart of the Mountain. The King’s jewel.”

“And worth a King’s ransom.”

Bard was looking at Bilbo with suspicion, “How is this yours to give?” Hermione had no idea what they were talking about, how could one jewel be worth a King’s ransom and why was it so important that Thranduil looked like he was about to keel over when he saw it.

“I took it as my fourteenth share of the treasure.”

“Why would you do this? You owe us no loyalty.”

“I’m not doing this for you. I know that Dwarves can be obstinate and pig-headed and difficult. And suspicious and secretive with the worst manners you can possibly imagine,” during his small speech Lovell had whispered “Ron.” Because it sounded just like him, “but they are also brave and kind and loyal to a fault. I’ve grown very fond of them, and I would save them if I can. But Thorin values this stone above all else. In exchange for its return, I believe he will give you what you were owed. There will be no need for war.”

There was silence after this, because nobody really knew what to do, but Mithrandir was quick to lead Bilbo out of the tent, talking of finding him somewhere to rest for the night, Hermione was still confused though and concerned, just because Bilbo had the stone, didn’t mean that Thorin was going to jump through hoops to get it back. In fact, it could escalate the situation and she didn’t really want to be there when it happened.

Thranduil motioned for Hermione to come closer, so she walked over to where he had set up his throne type chair, it was not as intimidating as the throne he has back in the Woodland Realm, but it was close, “You will accompany us to Erebor. You aided the Dwarves in their escape, so they may feel obligated to help you.” He inclined his head towards Lovell, “She will come too, it would not do well for her to be left behind and disappear.”

He stood up then, Hermione knew he was tall, she had stood before him in the Woodland Realm, but for some reason, he looked taller now. Maybe it was because it was only them there, Legolas was tall too. But his father was tall and intimidating, he gestured to the elf stood behind Lovell to get her up, “You will ride with her Elros, keep an eye on the other woman.”

Hermione followed behind quickly, she spotted Sirius stood beside Bard, they looked to be in deep conversation and Hermione was pleased that he had found someone to speak with, he caught her eye and nodded at her. If anything went wrong, they would have to jump into action, they weren’t happy at the thought of using magic against people who didn’t have their own magic. But sometimes they had to do things that weren’t right. Once they were all seated, Hermione on her horse, Lovell and the elf on another, Bard and Sirius were just in front of them, but she wasn’t expecting for the entire army of elves to follow behind them. They were silent, the only sound was the horses and whatever it was that the king was riding on, Hermione thought it suited him, it was large and intimidating like him, but she’d rather be stuck with the creature than the king any day.

It didn’t take them long to get to the doors of Erebor, Bard and Thranduil slowly rode towards the stone gate, Hermione watched as an arrow was shot and landed in front of the King, she quickly glanced over to where Lovell was, sitting astride a horse with Elros? The elf from before.

“I will put the next one between your eyes.”

The rest of the Dwarves cheered for him, waving their swords around until Thranduil indicated his Elf army to aim their arrows at them, the Dwarves were quick to hide behind their stone wall and the army was indicated to stand down. 

“We’ve come to tell you payment of your debt had been offered and accepted.” 

“What payment? I have you nothing. You have nothing.”

Bard researched into his pocket and pulled the stone out, Hermione watched the looks exchanged between the Dwarves, horror and shock, but mostly anger, “They have the Arkenstone. Thieves! How came you by the heirloom of our house? That stone belongs to the King!” she’d forgotten that Kili was related to Thorin, an easy mistake.

“The King may have it, with our goodwill.” Bard placed the Arkenstone back into his pocket, “But first, he must honour his word.”

“They’re taking us for fools. This is a ruse and a filthy lie. The Arkenstone is in this Mountain, it is a trick!” anything else said was muffled to Hermione and Lovell, but they both knew the Elves could hear everything, but the situation escalated when Thorin was suddenly pulling Bilbo towards the wall, Hermione was shocked, he wouldn’t actually throw him off would he? But he pulled her wand out, just in case, holding it at her side, Bilbo had, after all, saved them from the cells.

But it wasn’t needed, because Gandalf was suddenly there, appearing amongst the Elven army and walked to the front where Bard and Thranduil were, “If you don’t like my Burglar, then please don’t damage him. Return him to me. You’re not making a very splendid figure as King under the Mountain, are you, Thorin, son of Thrain.” Neither witch knew this Mithrandir, but he suddenly reminded them both of Dumbledore, it wasn’t him, obviously, but why hadn’t he acknowledged them in the tent? Like they weren’t there. Thorin let go of Bilbo, “Never again will I have dealings with wizards! Or Shire rats!”

Bilbo was quick to make his getaway, climbing down a rope hanging from the edge, and ran towards where they were all stood. “Are we resolved? The return of the Arkenstone for what was promised.”  
But Thorin wasn’t paying attention, instead, he was looking over the horizon, as though he were waiting for something or someone to appear. 

“Give us your answer. Will you have peace or war?”  
Just as Thorin was about to answer, a black crow landed in front of him, “I will have war.” And Hermione could hear now, deep voices chanting, loud boots stomping, she turned her head and saw an army of Dwarves heading towards them. 

“Ironfoot.”

Hermione jumped off of her horse and rushed towards Mithrandir, she came to stand beside him and Bilbo, watching as Thranduil commanded his Elven army to march towards the Dwarf army.

“Who is that? He doesn’t look very happy.”

“It is Dain, Lord of the Iron Hills. Thorin’s cousin.”

“Are they alike?”

“I’ve always found Thorin to be the more reasonable of the two.”

Hermione looked at him in shock, “But, what are we supposed to do? You said there was something more dangerous coming.” But any answer she was to receive was cut off, by this Dain riding towards Thranduil’s army. He looked cocky, the fight hadn’t even begun, and he looked as though he’d won already.

“Good morning! How are we all? I have a wee proposition if you wouldn’t mind giving me a few moments of your time. Would you consider…”

He looked around, nodding his head, “Just sodding off!?” The people of Laketown were pulling back in fear, Hermione couldn’t blame them, it must have been intimidating, a large Dwarven army yelling at you.

“All of you! Right now!”

Bard was there, looking at his army, “Stand fast!” they still looked scared, but there was a resolve there, they might not be warriors, but they would fight with everything they had, and Hermione hadn’t fought a proper battle in a good while. She was probably a bit out of practice, but she could help. She wished now, that Sirius had come with them, not stayed behind to look after Bard’s children like he’d promised, they could have done with some extra manpower.

“Come now, Lord Dain.”

“Gandalf the Grey. Tell this rabble to leave, or I’ll water the ground with their blood.”

“There is no need for war between Dwarves, Men and Elves. A legion of Orcs march on the Mountain. Stand your army down.”

“I will not stand down before any Elf. Not least this faithless woodland sprite. He wishes nothing but ill upon my people. If he chooses to stand between me and my kin. I’ll split his pretty head open! See if he’s still smirking then.” He probably would die with that smirk on his face, Hermione thought, he looked so smug sitting there on his large creature.

“Dain!”

“He’s clearly mad, like his cousin.”

“You hear that, lads? We’re on! Let’s give these bastards a good hammering!” 

He raised his fist in the air, signalling his army to get ready, Hermione slid into her fighting stance, but there was a sudden loud rumbling noise coming from the ground, “Were-worms!” a massive worm-like creature burst through the side of one of the mountains, before being joined by other were-worms.

“Oh, come on!”

But Hermione spotted a large pale man looking figure, surrounded by an army of what she recognised to be Orcs, there was so many of them, but she couldn’t see all of them, “The Hordes of Hell are upon us! To battle! To battle, sons of Durin!” the Orc army had begun their march towards the Dwarven one, easily closing the distance between them. But the Elven army wasn’t moving, they were just standing there, Hermione looked around for Lovell and her horse, they were still there and she could see that Lovell had her wand out by her side.

“The Elves, will they not fight?” Bilbo was looking up at Gandalf, Hermione could hear the shock in his voice, they wouldn’t truly leave the Dwarven army to die, would they? “Thranduil! This is madness!” 

As the Orc army advanced upon the Dwarves, suddenly the Elven army joined in the fight, attacking the Orc army with the Dwarves joining them, Bilbo looked around, before tugging on Gandalf’s robe, “Uh, Gandalf. Is this a good place to stand?”

Thranduil commanded his army as the fight continued, but the Orcs began heading in the direction of Dale, “Azog. He’s trying to cut us off.” Bard quickly commanded his army to fall back to Dale, Gandalf quickly joining in, “To the city! People, this way!”

The Orcs and beasts were there quickly, attacking Dale and the people remaining inside, Hermione had quickly joined Bard, looking for his children, Hermione was also looking for Sirius. He wouldn’t have left the children alone, if she could find him, she’d find Bard’s children.

“My children! Where are my children!”

“I saw them, they were down in the Old Market.” 

But he didn’t have a chance to head that way, Hermione yelled at him, “I’ll go!” before running down in the direction that the woman had pointed. Bard was rushed by the men of Laketown, “Bard, Orcs are storming the Causeway.”

“Get the bowmen to the eastern parapet. Hold them for as long as you can.”

“Archers, this way!”

Bard led the army of Laketown, they started attacking the Orcs, Gandalf and Bilbo quickly joining in, Alfrid gave a rally cry for those around to charge forward, though he himself quickly disappeared once the opportunity showed itself. Hermione meanwhile was rushing to find Bard’s children, blasting and killing the Orcs that got in her way, there were so many of them, how could so many have gotten in, but she quickly came across Tilda and Sigrid killing an Orc, Bain was quick to join them, and Hermione headed them towards a safe place, quickly coming across Bard, still fighting.

“Da!”

“Da!”

Hermione raised her wand, blasting the Orcs closest to them away, pushing the children behind her, a War-Beast suddenly appearing, but Hermione didn’t have to raise her wand this time, Bard had thrown himself down towards the beast, “Get down!” he landed on top of the beast and killed it. Turning to his children, “Listen I need you to gather the woman and children, take them to the Great Hall and barricade the door. Do you understand? You must not come out for any reason.” He took Bain’s sword from him, but the children, of course, didn’t want to be separated from their father, “We want to stay with you.”

Hermione noticed Alfrid coming out of the woodworks, “Show your father some respect. Leave it to me, Sire.” He turned to the two girls, pushing them towards the Great Hall, “You heard him, we make to the Great Hall.” Bard was quick to remind him that he would be needed, to fight alongside the other men, he gave Alfrid the sword he’d taken from his son.

Hermione followed close behind, a yell caught her off-guard, she spotted Sirius, wand raised and shouting spells and curses at every Orc and Beast that came too close to him and the people he was protecting. Quickly making her way over to him, “Bard wants all the women and children in the Great Hall.” She was rushed to start pushing the women that Sirius was protecting in the direction that Alfrid had gone off in, they didn’t resist her, rather follow this strange woman that be killed by Orcs. She noticed Thranduil and his Elven army join the fighting in Dale, she could just make out the horse that Lovell had been riding on, but there was no time to check on her. she had to get the woman and children to the Hall. It was surprising, how quickly the people and Elves died. The bodies were piling up now and Hermione didn’t know what she was supposed to do, but the arrival of Sirius cut off her thoughts. 

“Oi, Granger, you alright?”

Nodding her head, she looked at Sirius, “I’m okay,” pushing the last of the children through the doors, she was shocked when Sirius pushed her through the doors and told her to stay put and he would find Lovell, make sure she hadn’t gotten herself killed and then everything would be over.

**********************************************************************************

Falling off of the horse was quick, hitting the ground hurt and for a second Lovell was scared, scared that she wouldn’t get up and she would die here, surrounded by dead Elves, men and Orcs. But she was pulled onto her feet and dragged away by a familiar figure dresses in armour and she was relieved, he was okay, and she hadn’t been left defenceless. Where they were going, she wasn’t sure, but he was defending her and keeping them both alive at the same time, her wand still clutched in her hand, she raised it when she needed too. But she was scared, what if her magic didn’t respond the way it should, after her wound, she hadn’t felt the same. But she needed to do something though, she shot spells and curses as best she could.

She spotted the old man from earlier, Mithrandir, she called for Elros, but he was so far ahead now, fighting with his own people now. But she couldn’t ignore the wizard, so she ran towards him, quickly making a path for herself and catching his attention.

“You. You’re a wizard, right?”  
“My dear, this is not the time for questions.”

But instead of answering she killed an Orc nearest to them, she caught the look of shock come onto his face, “A witch?” she nodded her head, pulling Bilbo out of the way of a sword and blasting it away from them, but a familiar voice caught her attention, “Gandalf!” riding in like a Knight in Shining Armour, was Legolas and sitting behind him was Tauriel, they didn’t look like they had anything good to say.

“Legolas. Legolas Greenleaf!”

“There is a second army. Bolg leads a force of Gundabad Orcs. They are almost upon us.”

“Gundabad? Ahh. This was their plan all along. Azog engages our forces, then Bolg sweeps in from the North.”

“What? The North? Where is the North exactly?” 

“Ravenhill.”

Bilbo looked distressed at the answer, “Ravenhill? Thorin is up there. And Fili and Kili! They’re all up there!” he wasn’t the only one that looked distressed, Lovell noticed the same looking crossing over Tauriel’s face at the news that Thorin, Fili and Kili were up there. The Elves had closed in around them now, still fighting, but there were so many less now, they had all be slaughtered and Lovell watched at Thranduil called for one of his Elves to recall the company. Gandalf made his way to him, “My Lord, dispense this force to Ravenhill, the Dwarves are about to be overrun. Thorin must be warned.”

“By all means, warn him. I’ve spent enough Elvish blood in defence of this accursed land. No more.”

He left then, Lovell was surprised, but understanding, of course, he was going to want to leave. Most of his army had been killed, people he knew and cared about, in defence of a Dwarf that wouldn’t care, but when Tauriel moved after him, Lovell followed. She confronted the King, Lovell didn’t know what was said, but it wasn’t good, she’d drawn her bow on him, but it was quickly broken by his sword. 

“What do you know of love? Nothing. What you feel for this Dwarf is not real. You think it is love? Are you ready to die for it?”

Suddenly Legolas was there, he hit down his father’s sword, saying something in Elvish, before turning back to Tauriel, “I will go with you.” Then they were gone, just turning around and leaving. Not once looking back at their people, climbing back onto their horse and rode out of Dale, heading North to Ravenhill. Lovell wasn’t going to stay here, while they were off risking their lives, she hoped Hermione forgave her for leaving, but the Dwarves weren’t doomed yet, not when she could help. As she walked away, she didn’t notice Elros watching her, holding his side, or when he was led away by his kinsman, all the while his eyes never left her retreating figure.


	12. Finally

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if you feel like the coming chapter is fast-paced? I've never written this kind of thing haha~  
> Let me know what you think~

Hermione looked around at the other women in the Great Hall, none of them looked like they were happy to be there, and why should they? They were hidden away, while their husbands, children and brothers died defending them. But it wasn’t Hermione who rallied the women, it wasn’t her place, these weren’t her people, and why would they listen to a stranger. Instead, she focused on keeping Bard’s children safely tucked away, hidden.

“I saw we stand with our men in life and in death.”

“I’m with ya.”

But it was Bain, who truly rallied them, “Arm yourselves!” he’d wanted to stay with his father, but needed to look after his sisters, she saw a small argument breaks out, noticing that Alfrid hadn’t left the Hall after Bard told him to come back and Hermione wasn’t surprised, she didn't really know the man, but from what she had seen of him? She wasn't impressed and he deserved everything he got from the angry women yelling at him. But the argument was finished shortly after, leaving Alfrid in the Hall, the women grabbed what they could to use as weapons, brooms and left over rusty swords, but it didn’t deter them from rushing out of the Great Hall to join in on the fight. She followed them, looking around, the dead bodies sprawled over the place brought back memories that she didn’t want to think about. The friends that she had lost. She shook her head, she needed to find Sirius, or Lovell, she just needed to find them, pulling her wand out, “Appare Vestigium.” A spell she knew was used to track people, she focused on Lovell while casting the spell, and footprints appeared not too far from where she was stood, but they were heading out of Dale. What could have caused Lovell to leave? Hermione didn't stop to think about it, instead, she followed those footprints, and Lovell had best be ready when she found her. 

************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************  
Lovell panted as she finished her ascent of Ravenhill, she really needed to do some more exercise once this was all over, but she couldn’t stop now, not when the Dwarves were so close and there was something she could do to help. She pushed herself forward, quickly spotting Thorin and a large bald Dwarf, his name she didn’t know, so instead walked close enough for them to notice her, which they did.

“Thorin!” Bilbo was suddenly there, appearing out of nowhere, Lovell knew there was something weird about this little man, he couldn’t have appeared here that quickly and especially without not being seen.

“Bilbo.”

“You have to leave here! Now! Azog has another army, attacking from the North. This watchtower will be completely surrounded, there’ll be no way out.”

“We are so close. That Orc scum is in there. I say we push forward.”

“No! That’s what he wants. He wants to draw us in. This is a trap.”

Suddenly there was a noise coming from the towers in-front of them, Lovell raised her wand, she had to be quicker this time, there was no time to contemplate this time, the lives of these Dwarves depended on it, but she was shocked, a large pale creature appeared holding Fili.

“Oh no.”  
“This one dies first. Then the brother. Then you, Oakenshield. You will die last.”

There was only one spell she could think of, to distract the Orc, pointing her wand at the wall close to the Orc, “Reducto!” the wall blasted, breaking into pieces. In shock, Azog dropped Fili, but Hermione had taught her a spell that could slow down or even stop a body from hitting the ground too fast, “Arresto Momentum!”

The Orcs were quick to retreat, while Lovell rushed to where Fili’s fall was going to stop, she remembered Hermione telling her that it might not stop, but it would help and it could save his life. Thorin had rushed ahead of her, but the Orcs hadn’t left. They were quickly attacked by the remaining Orcs, she spotted Kili killing as many as he could, to stop them from getting to his brother. Thorin was attacked by Azog, but she had to make sure Fili was okay, she could help the rest of them once she’d secured him and hidden him. She made it just in time, hearing the arrival of more Orcs and large bat creatures, when she threw herself down next to Fili, for a heart-stopping moment, she thought he was dead. She hadn’t saved him, she’d probably killed him, but placing her hand of his chest, he gasped for breath.

“Oh, thank Merlin. You’re alive.”

He looked confused, he was obviously injured from her spell, but not severely. She had to focus on hiding him though, he couldn’t fight, not in his condition, “Look, I need to keep you alive, I’m going to hide you here. Nothing will know you’re here.” He started shaking his head, “I can still fight!”

“Sorry about this, you can yell at me later.”

She was quick to cast the Full Body-Bind Curse on him, he was instantly paralysed, casting a disillusionment charm, this was one way that nobody would find him. She nodded her head, before taking a deep breath and rushing down the stairs to join the fight. She could see the bald Dwarf killing Orcs and giant bats left, right and centre. Lovell needed to get closer to Thorin, wherever it was that he had taken off too, and that’s when she spotted a large hoard of Orcs in one place, that’s where he would be. It was obvious, danger followed that Dwarf wherever he went.

But arrows rained down on the Orcs surrounding Thorin, she looked around, before raising her head, she spotted Legolas standing on top of a tower, then she spotted Tauriel. When had they gotten here? Shaking her head, she made her way towards Tauriel instead, because that’s where Kili would be and if he had saved one brother, then she could save the other one too.

“Kili! Kili!”

“Tauriel!”

Suddenly an Orc was behind Tauriel, attacking her and he quickly overpowered her and threw her against the wall. Lovell made is just in time to see Kili rush at the Orc, but he too was quickly overpowered, he raised the sword he was holding before bringing it down towards Kili, “Sectumsenpra!” it wouldn’t do much damage to something like him, but it was enough, enough for Tauriel to throw herself at him, but they stumbled backwards and off the edge. She needed to keep Kili safe though, quickly casting the Full Body-Bind curse on him too, as she moved his body, she had to stop herself from laughing at the look he was giving her. She pulled him up against the wall, apologised and quickly hid him from view. Before rushing towards the edge, spotting Tauriel fighting the Orc, but she spotted Legolas jumping onto a large beast before causing it to ram into a tower, which formed a bridge and he was running to aid Tauriel. She needed to figure a way to get down there without being spotted by the Orc, everything was moving so quickly though and she hadn't really had the chance to think of anything she could do to help when a voice called out to her. 

*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Hermione was going to kill Lovell once she got hold of her, why couldn’t she have just, stayed put? But no, of course not, she had to go head-first into danger. Shaking her head, Hermione followed the footprints, firing spells when she had too, but it wasn’t long before she spotted Lovell, stood at the edge of a wall.

“Lovell! Don’t you dare, jump off that ledge!”

“Hermione?”

She rushed forward, grabbing Lovell and pulling her away from the edge, “What are you doing?” Lovell looked confused for a second, before looking from Hermione to the ledge again, “Oh, no, like I’m just trying to help Tauriel out.” She pointed down, where Hermione spotted the red-haired Elf and an Orc. She narrowed her eyes, spotting Legolas helping Tauriel, “She looks fine to me.”

Lovell rolled her eyes, “I’ve got Fili and Kili hidden away for now,” she tugged at her shirt in nervousness, “They’ll be proper pissed off, won’t they?” but the body of an Orc falling past them cut off their conversation, they watched, rushing back to edge as the Orc fell through the crumbling tower and taking the Orc that had been attacking Legolas and Tauriel with it. But something had caught Legolas’ attention, and Hermione watched as his sword flew from his hand and in the direction that the Orc had fallen from, they both noticed Tauriel had disappeared. But the Orc that had attacked Tauriel had reappeared, neither of them could risk shooting any spells, there was a high chance that either spell would have hit Legolas, and so they watched as Legolas took out his knives and battled with him again. They battle for them, felt as though it were happening in slow motion, but in reality, it was over much faster than they had thought, Legolas had managed to drive one of his knives into the Orc’s head, and he fell through the tower, which crumbled. There was no surviving that for a second time. They had no time to call out to him, because he was already rushing away, searching for the missing Tauriel. Hermione's priority wasn't the Elves though, it was the Dwarf that had left a bad taste in her mouth with his arrogance. 

“Lovell, where’s Thorin?”

“I, I don’t know, I was busy watching out for Fili. He was surrounded by Orcs,” Lovell pointed in the direction that Legolas had thrown his sword, “I don’t think he’ll want our help Hermione.” They heard a loud screeching sound, a large bird-shape shadows flashing over them, both looked up and were shocked to see what looked to be Giant Eagles, carrying two figures. They quickly took out the remaining Orcs, the larger figure jumped from his seat on the Eagle, and as he fell, he transformed into a bear. If this had been any other situation, Hermione would have been jumping in excitement, not only were there Wizards here, but there appeared to be some form of shapeshifters, there was a twinge, down inside her stomach though. Instead, they rushed to where Thorin must have been, they would not join in the fight, unless they needed too, Hermione couldn’t help but think that they were rushing to the aid of someone, who had refused to honour his end of a deal. But she could think about that later, once everything was over when Thorin was safe and nothing was trying to kill them. 

They came upon Thorin soon, watching as he threw a boulder at Azog, causing him to slip down the broken ice and into the freezing water, they couldn’t see where he had gone, but when Thorin began walking slowly in a line, it made sense to Hermione that his body would be floating and she prayed to Merlin that it was over. He must have been able to see his body floating in the water, but suddenly Thorin roared in pain, and they both watched in shock as Azog burst from the under the ice and pinned Thorin down onto the ground, But there was nothing they could do for Thorin, he and Azog were too close to each other to risk sending any spells, they might have hit Thorin, causing his death regardless, the decision, however, was made for them. Neither of them was able to lift their wands to help, they watched as Thorin fought to keep Azog back from impaling him, but he was too strong, and he let the sword impale him, but at the same time he himself, managed to stab the Orc with his sword and as the Orc fell, Thorin drove his sword through his body, sending the Orc into the ice and finally killing him. Lovell and Hermione watched this all play out in slow motion, they knew there wasn’t anything they could truly do to save him, instead they watched him walk to the edge of the icy fall, watching the rest of the battle playout, but he collapsed, and they rushed to his side. They carefully made their way over to the Dwarf, joined rather quickly by a pale Bilbo, who quickly dropped to his knees at Thorin's side. Hermione wiped the tears that had fallen from her cheeks, watching someone die was hard, even after all these years and she knew from the look he was giving Bilbo, that everything he had done was regretted. Hermione sent a silent prayer for him, before pulling Lovell away from the two friends, whatever was about to be said, wasn't to be heard by anyone other than Bilbo. 

“Bilbo.”

“No, don’t look. Don’t move. Lie still.”

His eyes were drawn to the wound in Thorin’s stomach, “Oh!” his hands hovered around the wound, not really knowing why he could do to help, “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Shh, shh, shh.”

“I wish to part from you in friendship.”

“No, you are not going anywhere, Thorin, you’re going to live.”

“I would take back my words and my deeds at the gate. You did what only a true friend would do. Forgive me. I was too blind to see. I am so sorry that I have led you into such peril.” His words were cut off, he choked back in pain.

“No, I, I’m glad to have shared in your perils. Thorin. Each and every one of them. It is far ore than any Baggins deserves.”

A smile graced Thorin’s face, “Farewell, Master Burglar. Go back to your books and your armchair. Plant your trees, watch them grow. If more people valued home above gold, this world would be a merrier place.” The breath Thorin took was his last, with a smile on his face and peace in his eyes.

“Thorin? Look, Thorin, hold on. You hold on. You see, the Eagles. The Eagles, the Eagles are here..Thorin…” Bilbo began to cry, his head falling into his arms, Hermione pushed away from Lovell, turning to her, “You find Fili and Kili, I’ll stay here.” Lovell nodded her head, taking one last look at Thorin and Bilbo before disappearing.

Hermione knelt next to the hobbit, before gently wrapping her arm around his shoulders and pulling him into her side, they sat there for a while, the only sounds to hear were Bilbo’s weeping and Hermione breathing. She held Bilbo close to her, flashbacks of her long-dead friends flashing in front of her, Fred was the main figure in those flashbacks, and even after all these years, his smile still made her heart beat faster. 

**********************************************************************************

Finding Fili had been easy, of course, he had been enraged at being kept from the battle, but once Lovell explained why she had done it, the anger wasn’t gone, but sizzled under the skin. Then she also had to tell him that Thorin was dead. She pointed him the direction that she had come from, he nodded his head at her and left to grieve his uncle. 

Finding Kili was difficult, she knew she had placed him against one of the walls, but the problem was that the walls all looked the same, Lovell knew it was easy enough to reveal him, so that’s what she did, in an almost dramatic fashion she waved her wand at the walls, and before long there he was. Laying very still, he was aware of everything happening around him, especially the closer she got to him, the more his eyes darkened in anger, however, his eyes were focused behind her now, and the anger slowly vanished, and when she turned around, Tauriel was stood there is Thranduil and a little further behind was Legolas.

“Kili?”

Tauriel rushed forward towards the Dwarf, hands hovering around his chest, “What’s wrong with him?” Lovell was quick to reassure her, that Kili was okay and a simple counter-curse was all he needed to be up and about again, and she could see that Kili wanted nothing more than to attack her, maybe not physically, but definitely verbally. But there wasn't much she'd be able to do about that, Lovell could handle a verbal lashing, her father had given her many as she grew up. The counter curse was quick to take effect, and she was surprised that he didn’t attack her, instead, Tauriel drew him close to her breast and held him there, it was a beautiful sight. The two would be lovers finally reunited, and Lovell could hear shuffling from behind her, she was quick to notice both Thranduil and his son looked most uncomfortable by the display. She waved at them, but she walked closer when Thranduil beckoned her towards the two, she looked around in discomfort before making her way towards them.

“Tell me, where the other witch?”

Lovell rubbed the back of her neck, head tilted down, “She’s looking after Bilbo,” a thick dark eyebrow rose in question, she leant forward, “Thorin’s died.” She whispered looking back at Kili and Tauriel, “It’s been a long time since I’ve had to deliver such bad news.” But of course, she new she was going to have too, there was no ignoring something so important, but right now, she was going to give Kili and Tauriel a few more moments together. Her hand touched her side briefly, maybe because of everything that had happened, she hadn’t been able to feel the pain, but now it was slowly coming back, and she was not looking forward to it. A hand falling onto her shoulder pulled her away from her thoughts, Legolas was stood with his hand on her shoulder, looking down at her. 

“You greatly upset my friend, leaving the way that you did.”

“Excuse me, I have to and cause a scene.” She promptly pointed towards Kili and Tauriel, before taking a deep breath and making her way over to them, from the look in Tauriel’s eye, she already knew, “Kili, I need to tell you something.” They didn’t know each other well, if anything Hermione should be to one telling him, they had spent more time together in the cells. But there was need for an explanation, he just nodded her head at her, a grief-stricken smile on his face, “I already know about my uncle. We may not have Elvish hearing, but we hear.”

Lovell could confidently tell you that there hadn’t been many times in her life that she had cried because it simply wasn’t done in her family, but this was one of them. She wasn’t a pretty crier, ugly sobbing came out of her mouth, apologised spilling from her mouth about how stupid she’d been, how she wished that she’d gotten to him sooner and saved him, but a pair a slim arms, wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her in close. Tauriel tried to reassure her, but she hadn’t much practice with crying mortals, “If you had gotten to Thorin sooner, Kili would be dead and I will forever be grateful to you, for keeping him safe.”

She would be embarrassed, later on, there was no way she’d hear the end of this, crying loudly about a Dwarf she didn’t truly know, wondering briefly if Hermione was this upset. A shout of her name caused her heart to fall into her stomach, Sirius had come around the wall, looking slightly worse for wear and rushing towards her with a look of concern. He wrapped his arms around her, drawing her close into a hug, and she'd never been so happy to see the man, not that she would be telling him that anytime soon. 

“What in Merlin’s name is wrong with you?”

But he wasn’t the only one that had come around the corner, Elros, the Elf that had been protecting her was also there, but he only briefly glanced at her, before making his way toward Legolas and Thranduil whispering to them, “They are going to see the King under the Mountain.” Tauriel whispered into her ear, before letting her go and pulling Kili onto his feet, he stumbled slightly, after being left paralysed, his legs felt wobbly and cold, but Tauriel was there, holding him up with a small smile, Lovell sighed when she caught sight of it, it was like looking into the sun. Blinding, but you couldn't find the strength to look away so soon. 

“I would like to see him,” he laced his fingers through hers, allowing himself to be led away and towards his Uncle and hopefully his brother, he nodded at Sirius had walked past him, watching him place his hands on the mortal woman’s shoulders, speaking to her quietly, nodding his head hear and there, before they both joined him. She tried to apologise again but shut up quickly from the look shot at her from Kili, lowering her head instead and walked slightly behind him and Tauriel. 

“Is Hermione okay?”

“Yeah, she stayed behind to keep an eye on Bilbo.”

“Ah yes, of Hermione, always to caring one.”

He kept his arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer once he noticed the dark-haired Elf that had followed him, staring at her. There was a slight look of anger in his eyes, but it was mostly concern and confusion, he recognised him as the Elf that Lovell had been stood with before the battle had begun, before he’d lost sight of her. it had taken him far longer than he’d hoped, to find the two of them, but he was so relieved that both of them were okay. Hermione, he knew, was slightly more emotional than the Thomas girl by his side, so he would be more suited to comforting her, if she had need for him. The walk to the body of Thorin Oakenshield didn’t take long, everyone except for Kili hung back, watching the Dwarves, Wizard and Hobbit in their grief for him, he, like everyone else, didn’t feel right standing beside the company. It was Thranduil, who took the first steps towards the group, holding a sword. The Dwarves surprisingly, separated for the Elven King, he lay the sword across the Dwarf’s body, before placing his hand upon his breast and bowing. The two Elves stood with Sirius and Lovell bowed also, Lovell made her way towards Hermione, who was still stood with her arm around Bilbo, she laced her fingers through Hermione’s, clinging to her hand like a child, but it was the only comfort Hermione would accept given the amount of people around them. She lent her head on Hermione’s arm, closing her eyes and basking in the silence that surrounded them for the time being, tonight, when everything was calm, Hermione would speak with her and they would allow themselves to breathe and just be together.


	13. After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it has taken so long to update, university is killing me, let me know what you think!

Everything after Thorin’s death, happened fast, everything blurred together and Lovell was so relieved that she had her own room in Erebor, given to her by Fili, now King Fili, she and Hermione would be sharing, a request met by some amusement from the Dwarves. But they had ignored the looks and whispers, Hermione would be joining her later, she had gone off with Gandalf, probably jumping around in excitement because now she could finally start her research. It was a nice room, there were no windows, but the large fire and furnishing more than made up for it, there was a large bed, which had been covered in dust before she’d cleaned it, dusty tapestries, books cases, and chairs. But the coolness of the room was welcoming, and she’d found a bronze bath sat behind a beautifully carved wall, and she hadn’t wasted any time filling it with water and washing. She’d conjured a mirror to help with making sure she had washed all of the grime off of her, but it was the healing wound on her side that caught her attention, it was small, but ugly and red. She’d ask Hermione about it later. 

Lovell had just wrapped a robe around her when the knock came on her door, she wasn’t expecting anyone and it defiantly wasn’t her friend, Hermione wouldn’t be letting Gandalf go for another few hours, she shrugged her shoulder before making her way towards the door, she only opened it enough to be able to see the person standing on the other side, and opened it wider once she realised who it was. 

“Ah, Elros. How’s it going?”

He didn’t look amused, but then again, she wasn’t sure that she had ever seen him smile, it a smirk counted as a smile then yeah, there was a chance that was the only thing close to a smile that he’d given her, he all but pushed her back into her room, before rushing to close it behind him, “A young woman should open the door dressed in nothing but a robe.” He’d turned away from her now, looking around before grabbing a thick blanket and throwing it over her, she struggled under the weight for a second, “I knew it was you, I looked before opening the door wide!” her voice was muffled from the thickness of the blanket. He made a displeased noise, “Not that it’s any of your business, who I do and don’t let into my room.” Her head popped out now, and the look that she shot her, made her want to take it back, but she wasn’t about to let this Elf speak to her like that. 

She’d irritated him, a blind man would have been able to see it. His eyes had darkened, and instead of the semi-relaxed posture he had, he was now stood straight as a board, crossing his arms in front of his chest and narrowing his eyes at her, “My Lord trusted you into my care, and I will not fail because you are unable to look after your own wellbeing.” She’d thrown the blanket off of herself by now, glaring at him, she wasn’t in the mood for an argument with someone who had been tasked with basically keeping her prisoner, “You mean he trusted you to keep me locked up? Thank you, but if that’s all you’re here for, you can leave.” She pointed towards the door, but from the look on his face, he wasn’t planning on going anywhere, he instead, sat down on her bed, keeping his arms folded against his chest, and keeping his eyes on her. 

She was Thomas, she had faced worse from the Purebloods at Hogwarts, and if he thought he was scaring her, then he was dead wrong. Her father had taught her to never back down, especially when faced with a man, Elf, in this case, but she could almost feel the look of disproval on her father’s face when she went to lower her arms. 

 

“I can do this all day,” his ear twitched, but he didn’t avert his eyes from her, “So good luck.” She backed herself into the chair facing her bed, she could wait until Hermione got back, but there was a definite chance that she would fall asleep before that happened.  
If anything, he began to look more arrogant, sitting there, a smirk gracing his far too attractive features, “I do not need sleep as you do, I too can do this all day.” He started making himself comfortable on her bed, his boots coming off and resting on her bed.

“Hermione’s not going to be happy when she finds you here.”

“You will be sharing a room? That is uncommon.”

“Not that it’s any of your business.”

His eyes trailed over her face, taking in how different she looked since she’d left him in the middle of the battle, he had been terrified and then angry. She had abandoned him, after everything he had done to keep her from harm, he wanted nothing more than to shake her and ask her why? Why had she not asked him to come with her? Had he not protected her from threats, helped her when she needed it most? She looked tired, small cuts on her face and bruises on her legs, he would offer her the bed, if she would answer his questions.

“Why?”

Her eyes rolled to look at him, “Why, what?” a flare of anger rose in his chest, she would act indifferent, as most would, but he would not simply sit there and allow her to make a fool out of him, “Why did you abandon my help? Have I not gained your confidence, your trust? You walked into a battle, you were not prepared for and you could have died.” There was no need for shouting, instead, he allowed his hurt and anger to seep into his words.

“I yelled for you, but you just carried on walking away.”

“You should have called louder. I would have come back, once I was sure nothing would hurt you. But instead, you abandoned someone who would protect you from those threats.” He did not reveal to her the injuries he was received, once he had noticed she was gone, attempting to follow her and almost cut down by Orc filth. 

“I can protect myself!” 

They argued back and forth for what felt like hours, only stopping at the sound of knocking on the door, he moved fast, putting his boots back on, grabbing the blanket off of the floor and throwing it at her, it would not be proper for him to be found with her, alone, by the standards of Men and Dwarves. Stood there was an Elleth he was familiar with, holding clothing for the woman sitting in the room.

“Prince Legolas asked for a dress to be brought for the Lady Lovell, I have come to deliver it.” She smiled at him, but he was shocked, for once he didn’t feel compelled to flirt with her as he would have. He knew that Prince Legolas had not in-fact, asked for the dress to be delivered, what he did know is that she had been following him, but could not come to the door without anything.

“I am sure that Lady Lovell will appreciate it.”  
He held his hand out for the dress, ignoring the look of sadness that crossed her features, even she knew that usually there would be affected, flirting and maybe a kiss exchanged between them, she had not believed Meludir, when he had told her of the interest Elros had in the woman he was guarding. She allowed her hands to brush against his, before, in a rather unladylike way, huffed away, the sound of the door closing behind her.

Elros held the dress in his arms, a lovely shade of green, it would suit Lovell he knew, the cut of the dress is one he was familiar with, “Wow, you’re as cold as ice. She was pretty tough.” He did not answer her, instead of swirling around and walking towards her, she was not moved from her place in the chair, but she had made herself more comfortable. 

“It seems that a dress had been delivered for you,” he held the dress out for her, shocked when she laughed at him, “You don’t honestly think that anything Elvish is going to fit me?” he tilted his head to the side, the fit would be fine, the fabric was one that would mold to the fit of anybody, he still held it out to her. Growing frustrated at her, he didn’t know what possessed him, but it was as though something had come over him, within a second, he had lowered his face down and close to her, closer than he had ever gotten to her. He could see why some of the Guards had commented on her, she was even lovelier up close.

“You will wear this dress.”

“I’m not putting that on.”

He all but manhandled her from the chair, the dress still hanging onto his arm, he kept a tight grip on her arms, backing her backward, towards the intricately decorated wall, “You will put it on, or I will put it on you myself.” She struggled, not that she was scared of him, if he asked nicely, she’d have stripped off her robe right there and then, but he wasn’t asking nicely, instead he pushed her behind the wall and back into the bathing area from before, where her old clothes were still folded up on a stone ledge, coming out of the wall. The floor was a little slippery from her bath, but for all his grace, it wasn’t something he had been expecting, his boot slipped on a puddle, sending them both to the floor, he landed heavily on top of her.

“Ah!”

Their foreheads smacked together, and Lovell saw stars. The pain was immense, and she was certain that his head was made of stone, she’d never had something so hard hit her, especially not on her head. Her eyes closed tightly in pain, hands flying up to touch her forehead, she didn’t even have it in her to yell at him, she felt like she’d been punched in the head by a wall. She let him pull her hands away from her head, he’d only complain if she slapped his hands away and she wasn’t in the mood for another spat.

“It is not so bad, sore?”

“Get off of me.”

There was a split second where she thought he was going to stay half lay on her, but thankfully he was quick to rush away from her body, instead of crouching beside her, she didn’t need to see his face to know he was looking quite satisfied with himself. He’d managed to annoy her and shut her up, but he was quick to stand up and turn away, awkward sounds coming out of his mouth. He could feel the tips of his ears burning in embarrassment.

“Your rob  
She wondered if this was a sign, Merlin was surly punishing her for something and she was not enjoying it, why could he have landed away from her? Or just let go of her and let her land alone on the floor? He’d obviously seen some part of her body because when she opened her eyes, he was facing away from her, stiff as a board. And when she looked down, her traitorous right breast had fallen out of the opening of her robe, which she quickly covered back up.

“I’ll put the dress on, just help me up and get out.”

He was careful to pull her up, no need to fall over again, but as though possessed by some spirit, as soon as she was stood in front of him, he kissed her. it lasted seconds, but he pulled away and left her in the bathroom, “Good evening, My Lady,” then he was gone, closing the door behind him. 

**********************************************************************************

Hermione found Lovell sitting on the edge of their shared bed when she entered the bedroom, she sat there with her hands on her mouth, wearing a lovely shade of green dress and looking slightly distraught. She hadn’t noticed her straight away, but she wanted nothing more than to leave the room once she did, because a confused Lovell was an annoyance to everyone, and Hermione had just had the most delightful chat with Gandalf. 

“What in Merlin’s name is wrong with you?” Hermione edged closer to Lovell, before warily sitting down next to her, she didn’t look annoyed, just slightly confused, her head tilted to look at Hermione, “Is it normal for someone to like, run away after they’ve kissed you?”

“Well, I suppose not? Why, who kissed you?”

“Elros.”

“The Elf?” Hermione felt slightly amused at the look in Lovell's face, “The cheeky bastard your cake in here and was all in my face for not wanting to put the dress on, and then he followed me into the bathroom area slipped, he saw my boob and then he kissed and left!” Hermione tried to keep her laughter in, but there were some times in life that you just have to let it all out, and so she did. Feeling only slightly self-conscious that people walking past the door would hear her, but she couldn’t help it, they hadn’t seen each other in such a long time and now they had come together, this sort of thing happened.

“How did your chat with Gandalf go?” 

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Hermione nodded her head, “He was happy to talk about the differences between the wizards here and those back home. It's all very interesting, did you know that the wizards here aren’t really wizards, they’re some kind of different being-" 

Lovell let Hermione's voice wash over her, only really half listening to what she was saying. At least Hermione could get started on her research, “Gandalf asked if we'd like to meet a Lord Elrond? Apparently, he knows quite a lot about different magic that flows through Elves and I’d love to go.” 

“I’m not going to stay here by myself, so of course I’m going to come with you.” 

Hermione threw an arm around Lovell's shoulder, pulling her down to lay beside her, at 5his point Hermione had pulled her hair from its bun and Lovell had to push the thick black curls out of her face with a sigh, “Let’s hope you do something with this monster attached to your head. “ Hermione responded by throwing herself onto Lovell, making sure her hair was covering her face completely, “Poor you, I haven’t even had a bath yet.”  
Cries of disgust came rushing out of Lovell's mouth, but Hermione kept her position on top of her friend, she didn’t smell that bad in all honesty, just a bit of sweat and her clothes were dirty too. But soon she pushed herself off of Lovell, bouncing on the bed, “I see you tidied the dust-up.”  
“Yeah, it was thick with dust and mold.” 

Hermione looked around the room, it was nice now that everything had been cleaned and repaired while she was speaking with Gandalf, but the main issue was clothes, she didn't have any, but Lovell pushing on her back with her foot, brought her attention back, "I duplicated the dress I'm wearing now, different colour of course.” It was draped over a chair by the fire, it was a pretty red colour, it reminded her of Gryffindor house colours, but she didn’t have time to think about it, instead she pushed herself up and made her way to the bathroom area. 

It was nice, to finally have some time to clean up and put on new clothes, her hair took a while to wash, there were all sorts of things caught up in there, she quickly removed small twigs and braided her hair back from her face, it would be easier once she finally had somewhere to sit down and begin working on her findings, to bring something back to the Wizarding World. 

“We've been invited to the celebratory feast tonight, are we going?”

She pooled her head around the wooden insulation, seeing Lovell had moved from her slouched position and was instead sprawled on the bed, a letter in her hand, “I don't really fancy it, to be honest, I’d rather sleep and plan out next move.” Hermione struggled into the dress, she should have dried herself off properly before attempting to put it on, but a quick wave of her wand and she was in it, dry, clean and happy. The dress wasn't too long, it grazed the floor, the problem was shoes, but a quick transfiguration spell and that would be sorted.  
“Yeah, I asked Gandalf to meet me early tomorrow morning, but Sirius should be coming by soon, I spotted him flirting with a female Elf earlier.”

“I’m going to stay here too then, I don’t fancy running into Elros, the humiliation is still fresh.”  
Hermione was interrupted by a knock on the door, it was in a rhythm, and then Sirius barged through the door looking pleased with himself, “ So, when are we going home?” Hermione chuckled nervously, before ignoring the question and asked instead what he'd been up to, Lovell blocked it out, she was honestly too tired to involve herself, especially not when sleep was calling for her. 

Lovell wasn’t the only one who noticed Hermione's avoidance of the question, but Sirius would let it go, for now, instead he and Hermione focused the conversation around what both had been up to, Sirius was pleased that Hermione had finally gotten to speak with the wizard, and he too was intrigued by the discovery of the difference between them. He agreed to come with them to meet this Lord Elrond, if he could help them, the sooner they could go home.

“Lovell and I are just going to sleep in tonight, we're too tired to speak with people."

I’ll give them your apologise I’m sure they’ll understand."

They were quick to say their goodnights, promising to meet up tomorrow and sort through everything, Sirius left and headed back to his own rooms, to get ready for the feast, he would make sure that food was sent to their room, because Hermione would only sleep for a short while before getting up to write everything she leleanedown and he knew Lovell would wake up to the smell of food. He had seen some Elves mulling about earlier before he went to speak with Hermione, he had noticed the Elf that had been with Lovell, looking pale and uncomfortable as he spoke with the redhead Elf, Tara or something. She had looked amused at whatever she was being told, he quickly stored it in the back of his head, he would ask her about it later. They both stopped talking as soon as he got close to them, not that it really necessary, he wouldn’t have been able to understand what was being said anyway.

Hermione sighed in relief once the door closed, she made her way to the bed before flopping down next to Lovell, she would sleep for a short time, before writing everything down, it would make it easier to question Gandalf, f she had all her questions written down and planned out. Tomorrow would be the beginnings of her research and she couldn’t wait to learn everything she found out and take it home to Kingsley.

Those thoughts swam around her head for a while, coming up with all sorts of crazy ideas, she wondered if Gandalf would be honest with her, he reminded her of Dumbledore, but not as secretive and willing to sacrifice young people for his own needs. No, she decided, she could trust him and it didn’t matter if he lied to her. It wouldn’t stop her from looking for answers, she just didn’t want it to last too long, she was getting homesick. She was lucky though, she realised because Lovell had come with her and she wasn't truly alone. Hermione turned her body towards Lovell, taking in her relaxed face and body, she was concerned with how the poison had infected her. She looked fine, but so did lots of people when they were hurt and then they were dying. There was no special hospital for Hermione to take her too, but she would research it tomorrow, make sure that she had access to medical supplies, then she would worry about everything else.

She kept her body turned to her friend, hopefully, Lovell could help her, she was good at talking to people when Hermione wasn't, hen she became too focused on writing and forgot to speak and be polite. She felt like Gandalf wouldn’t mind, it would still be impolite and she hated the thought of someone thinking she was rude.  
Her eyes slowly began closing, she must have been more tired than she first thought, because, within minutes of lying down, she was asleep and dead to the world.


	14. Goodbye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait~  
> Sorry that it's short as well, I'll make the next one longer~

It was a nightmare that woke Hermione up, that and the knocking on the door. It started her far more than she was expecting, she looked around the darkened room, before another knock sounded and she got up, she tugged the dress she wore back into place. She must have been moving around far more than she usually did, making her way to the door, the only sound was Lovell's breathing and the sound of her feet walking across the cold stone 

Opening the door, she was met by a small bearded woman, holding a tray of food, “I apologise for the late delivery of your super, ” she bustled past Hermione and into the room, looking around for a place to out the tray, “I hope you enjoy your food.” 

As quickly as she’d come, she was gone. The door closing behind her and Hermione was once again in the dark. The rustling of the sheets diverted her attention, and glancing towards the bed, she spotted Lovell's head pop up from underneath a pile of blankets, her hair was a mess, sticking up and around her head like a strange hat.

“I smell food.”

Hermione rolled her eyes, before grabbing her wand and lighting a fire, the room instantly lit up, casting shadows that danced across the walls, Hermione tried to ignore it. She was quickly joined by Lovell, who instantly dug into the food, eating the different food that was laid out on the tray for the two of them, but it didn’t take long for her to notice Hermione wasn’t eating.

“What’s the matter?”

Hermione felt a little embarrassed, “I, I had a bad dream,” there was no need for it though, Lovell wouldn’t judge her for the dream, or really a nightmare, “It was about a Fred when he died.” She could feel the tears welling up behind her eyes, knowing that if she opened them, they would flood out.

“Hermione, ” Lovell lent back in her chair, “Fred’s death wasn’t your fault, you weren’t even there when it happened. You couldn’t have done anything.” She didn’t want to be cruel, but there wasn’t anything Hermione could have done to save him. “You will always feel guilty because you weren’t there. But frankly, you should be happy that your final moment and memory of him, weren’t of him dying.” 

“I know, but it wasn’t just that, ” now the embarrassment was back full force, “He spoke to me and it was so real, he touched by hand and I could feel it. But then, ” she refused to meet Lovell's eye now, looking everywhere but at her. Instead, she focused on the shadows, the warmth and a familiar laugh dancing around her head. “He didn’t die in my dream, the way he did that night.”

“I killed him.”

 

Lovell's heart went out to her, not many people knew about Hermione and Fred, as brief as the relationship has been, only Ron had reacted badly go the news. But right now she wasn't sure how she was supposed to comfort her friend, this wasn't part of her life, meeting someone that meant that much to her, romantically.

“I know that, ” she room a deep breath, “Fred meant a lot to you, but maybe, this is a good thing? You never really, grieved him, really said goodbye.” By now Hermione had finally begun picking at her food, eating slowly.

“We could have a ceremony? For Fred, a traditional wizarding goodbye. How about it?”

“I wouldn't know what to do.” 

“Well, usually there's a body, but what we could do is, send an offering.” Lovell placed her hand on her chin, “People gather to eat bread and cheese and drink wine or beer while we mourn the one we have lost. Mourners also give family gifts, such as cake or gingerbread. Before the burial, everyone eats a slice of funeral cake with mulled wine. Then, the deceased's family carried the body to the burial location.” Hermione looked confused, opening her mouth before quickly closing it again.

“I know that none of his family is here, but you're as good as any of them. Do you have anything of his? We could use that in place of his body and find a nice place to bury it.”

“Somewhere sunny, he would have wanted to be somewhere sunny.”

Lovell stood up quickly, waving her arms around with a smile, “Where’s my bag? I should have a recipe book in there. For the cakes.” 

Hermione watched Lovell flutter around the room, throwing tings out of the bag and around the room with no care, she was offended by Lovell's throwing of books, but when she held an older book in her hand, her thoughts changed back to Fred. 

***********************************************************************************************************

It took Lovell forever to convince the Dwarves to let her use the kitchen, which was a large open space which, once cleaned, looked very warm and welcoming. Large open ovens, shelves slowly being filled with bags of spices, and Lovell couldn't help but be reminded of Hogwarts, but once she explained what she was trying to do, they were quick to give her the space to do so. But it wasn't long before she was asking for help, having never truly baked herself, the Dwarves were very nice. With their help, she was quick to finish the cake, making some gingerbread on the side. Looking around, she tried to find where they kept their mulled wine, but she felt guilty asking, considering everything that they had already done for her.

There was only one other person she could ask, making a point to stop and ask everyone she could where Tauriel may be, which didn't take long. Wherever Kili was, Tauriel would most likely be, when she was pointed in the direction of the Elvish camp and wanted nothing more than to walk away. But this want for her, it was for Hermione. 

Tauriel was easy to notice, bright red hair and a small dark-haired fighter sitting beside her, “Tauriel!” Lovell lifted her hand to wave, catching the attention of all the Elves sitting with them, she made her way over quickly.

“Tauriel, I'm sorry to bother you, ” she didn't sit when offered a seat, “I was wondering if I could ask for a favour?”

“Of course, ” Tauriel smiled, bright and happy, “What is it?”

“I need some mulled wine.” 

“Planning on getting drunk?”

“Oh, no, ” Lovell smiled awkwardly, “It's for a ceremony Hermione and I are having, tonight.” It wasn’t her place to tell them what it was for, it was a private and intimate ceremony for Hermione’s lost love.

“Of course,” Tauriel rose slowly from her sitting position, smiling at Lovell, “I shall find you some now.”

Lovell just stop awkwardly, ignoring anyone that even looked in her direction, it was best to feign ignorance, but the rest if this plan was put down by a smiling Kili, who kept trying to catch her eye, both by smiling and pulling stupid faces.

“So,” ah, Lovell thought to herself, there it is, “What is this ceremony you’re having? Why is it so private?”

“One, that’s none of your business, and two, it’s none of your business.”

She threw a bright smile in his direction, but she quickly turned away once she noticed the Elf that was intensely staring at her, from his spot by a wall. Best to ignore him, she thought to herself and brightened up once Tauriel returned, carrying a bottle of mulled wine.

“Thanks for this Tauriel,” 

“It is quite alright, I hope your ceremony goes well.”

As she walked away, she pretended she couldn’t feel the eyes on her back, once she went around the corner, she sped up. Just in case he tried to follow her back to her room, and she still needed to pick up the baked goods from the kitchen, Hermione would be meeting her back at their room, and would tell her where they would bury the meaningful object from Fred. 

She was almost home safe when a soft call of her name broke through, but it wasn’t the voice she was expecting to hear, when she turned around, she was surprised to see that Tauriel had followed her, looking uncomfortable standing just a small distance from her, and just as she’d reached her bedroom door too.

“Oh Tauriel, was there something you needed?”

“I wished to speak with you,” Tauriel turned to look over her shoulder, “About Elros.”

“Okay, but I have to make it quick. There are things I need to do.”

She pushed to door open, before gesturing for Tauriel to head inside, she looked around to make sure that nobody else had secretly followed her and not seeing anyone, she walked in and closed the door. Tauriel was stood by the fireplace, looking around the room, it was slightly messy Lovell realised, looking embarrassed at the books and clothes spread across the table and floor.

“I have been worried about you,” Tauriel began, before moving across to sit on the chair beside the table, “I have not seen you for a while, I know that Elros has seen you, but he would not tell me if something had happened.”

Lovell busied herself with putting the mulled wine on the table and cleaning the room, it wasn’t that she was trying to avoid the situation, she just didn’t want to talk about Elros and the fact that he had seen her tit.

“Oh, it’s nothing really,” she answered, “Just a misunderstanding.” 

Tauriel nodded her head, she wasn’t satisfied with the answer, but there wasn’t much she could so to get Lovell to open up. Of course, Tauriel didn't truly know Lovell very well, but Elros was an old friend, someone that she was close with and someone that she was concerned about.

“It is almost as though you have been avoiding one another” Tauriel tried to act nonchalant about it, but she truly was worried and concerned about the two of them,. Lovell was unusual, while she sought out the attention of those around her, she would pull away as quickly as the attention was given, Tauriel had herself, spoken to Elros about the watch, but had received nothing but a wall of silence. Was she not someone that they felt that they could trust? 

 

“Elros kissed me and he left.”

Tauriel covered her mouth, from both shock and amusement, she hadn't known Elros to be an Elf to walk away from a kiss, she watched as Lovell avoided eye contact with her, before clearing her throat, “He saw my boob.” 

“I beg your pardon?”

Lovell gestures to her chest, “He saw my boob!” she slammed her head into her arms, which lay folded on the table, “It was so embarrassing! I didn't even notice, he had to point it out!”

Lovell kept her head buried in her arms, avoiding any eye contact with the Elf sitting across from her, there were many times that she’d felt embarrassed in her life, but this one topped all of them. Confessing to Hermione had been easy, she’d seen her at the lowest points of her life, but sitting in front of someone like Tauriel and not feeling embarrassed? Wasn’t even up for discussion.

“I do believe Elros enjoys your company,” Tauriel started carefully, “But maybe, you should tell him you also enjoy his?” She leant forward, closing in on Lovell, “Or perhaps, there is another reason for your bashfulness? Do you, perhaps, enjoy his company in another way?”

“What? You think I fancy him?”

Tauriel was cut off, “Just because he’s very pretty, and his face makes me want to punch it, doesn’t mean that I like him.” Lovell could feel her face burning, she was sure now, that she resembled Tauriel’s hair, “I did not say that, but you confirmed it.”

She’s tricked me, Lovell was horrified, standing up quickly and pulling Tauriel up from her chair, “Thanks for the chat, but I’m afraid I have things to do,” if Tauriel was surprised by the sudden change in attitude, she did an amazing job of covering it up.

“Thanks for stopping by!”

“Love-.”

“See you later, bye, bye for now!”

She’d opened the door and shoved Tauriel out into the corridor with a promise of a continuation of the conversation, which, obviously wasn’t going to happen, she’d had enough humiliation to last her years.

Tauriel stood still outside Lovell’s door, unsure if she has amused or insulted, but everything slipped away when she noticed the Elf stood at the end of the corridor, “Elros, have you been spying?”

“Of course not,” he stood stiffly, his hands clasped behind him, “I was only curious as to where you disappeared, your Dwarf was searching for you.”

Tauriel glanced once more to the door, before smiling at Elros, “I just had to a most interesting conversation with your mortal lady.” she was amused to see the slight look of horror that came quickly across his features, “My? Excuse me, Lady Tauriel, I am needed elsewhere.”

He was quick to walk away, leaving Tauriel to plot in the corridor, she took one last glance at the entrance to Lovell’s room, before making her way back to Kili. She would perhaps, try and converse with Lady Hermione later if she saw her, maybe she would know something about Lovell’s infatuation. 

****************************************************************************************************

Hermione meanwhile, was sitting in a corner of Erebor’s vast library with Bilbo, he would be leaving soon with Gandalf, and she had to decide whether or not she would be joining him, and how long they would stay in Middle Earth, before returning home.

“So, as you can see Miss. Hermione,” Bilbo’s voice cut through her thoughts, “Hobbits are quiet and don’t enjoy leaving their homes.” Hermione smiled at him, “But you were an exception weren’t you?”

 

He gave her a shy smile, “I just thought, maybe it was time that I left the comforts of my home,” he sighed, “You would like it, I believe Miss. Hermione, it’s large, green and so beautiful.”

“I would like to see it,” she told him, and she did, there was nothing like Hogwarts, with its mystery and history, but who was she, to deny herself the peace of a beautiful place. She nodded to herself, Lovell would enjoy it too, if she decided to come with her, but maybe she would stay here, where it reminded her of the house she’d grown up in. That was what Hermione thought first, when she had seen and felt Erebor the first time, it had reminded her of Lovell’s home, but somehow, still felt more homely than her home. 

“Bilbo?”

He glanced up at the sound of his name, Hermione coughed, “Have you ever lost anyone that you love?” she was curious, she watched as Bilbo’s eyebrows furrowed, before answering.

“Both my mother and father, it was a shock, but nothing I wasn’t expecting, they were in their late eighties,” he tugged at his hair, “And Thorin of course.”

“Oh,” she whispered, she didn’t know what she was hoping he would say, maybe that he had lost someone like she had lost Fred. But his parents brought her own to the front of her mind, she’d never been able to return their memories, and when she had found them, they had moved on with their lives. Thinking of Thorin made her sad, knowing that she could have prevented his death, but could have caused it if she’d defended him.

“Why do you ask?”

“Oh, no reason, I was just curious.” 

“We shall be leaving soon,” Bilbo’s voice sounded sad, he looked around the vast library, with its dusty books and tapestries, large wooden tables and small windows, “I shall miss it, don’t you think Miss?”

“In a way,” Hermione answered, but a quiet shout of her name pulled her away from her book, glancing around, she caught sight of Lovell, waving her arm to call her over. With a sigh, she said her goodbyes to Bilbo, placing the large book on the history of Durin’s line back onto the shelf.

“I’ve gotten everything ready,” Lovell told her, pulling at the end of her hair, “I was wondering if you were too?”

Hermione nodded her head, “I’ve found something to bury for him,” she answered, “I think I’m ready to say goodbye now.”

Lovell gave her a smile, before taking her hand and leading her away from the library, away from Bilbo and towards a new chapter in her life.


	15. Warmth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise bitch, bet you thought you'd seen the last of me, *flips hair*  
> sorry for the late update, uni has me feeling all sorts of things, but now it's overand I'm free~  
> Please enjoy~

Lovell leads Hermione outside, away from the doors of Erebor and towards Dale, both were surprised when they had been how quickly the townspeople of Laketown had taken to the new place, it was now filled with people, music and singing. But it wasn’t the city Lovell was leading her to, instead, she was being pulled her towards a tall wall, where the sun was shining and bright, Lovell had obviously spent a little time cleaning it up, and Hermione was glad for her friend once again.

“I know, it’s not what you were hoping for,” Lovell started, tugging at her hair with one hand and in the other, a small, beautifully decorated box, “But this was the only place where the sun was shining bright.”

“It’s perfect.”

Lovell nodded her head, looking around, “Did you want to say something? About Fred, before burying the box?”

 

Hermione cleared her throat, “He’d told me, a few months before my Fifth year, that he liked me, and well, I thought that I was in love with Ron. It was when Ron started taking notice of other girls, and well, I started to truly notice Fred. We had a secret romance at the Order headquarters and throughout Fred’s seventh year. We would meet in the Room of Requirement after DA meetings and make-out,” Hermione blushed when she noticed Lovell raise her eyebrow, “Or just talk about what it was that we wanted to achieve.” 

She watched Lovell dig a small hole, before placing the box inside, “I always wondered what would have happened, if Ron had found out, he’d be angry at first, but he’d have gotten over it sooner or later, because he loved Fred so much, we were his family and you can’t stay mad at family.”

Lovell looked at her, “Especially when they fit together so perfectly.” 

Hermione looked lost in thought, staring into nothing, so Lovell continued to bury the box, whispering her own goodbyes to the man that had made Hermione so happy and carefree, but it wasn’t enough, so Lovell conjured a tree, a small sapling at the moment, but it would flourish in the sunshine and soon it would be as beautiful as the man her friend had lost. 

Hermione was surprised by how quickly the ceremony was over after that, she’d been led back to their shared room, where wine and cakes were waiting for them, Lovell charmed some music to play in the background. It was nice, Hermione decided, to finally, in some way, have her own closure. She found herself wondering, what would have happened, had Fred not died and she wasn’t alone, would she be here now? Sitting with her closest friend? Or would she be sitting in a cosy living room, sitting with the man of her dreams, while he dozed off next to her? She decided then that it didn’t matter, Fred wouldn’t have stopped her from doing anything, Merlin, he’d have followed her.   
She drank the wine, laughed and smiled, letting Lovell pull her to her feet, spin her around and dance, the rest of the night, and was astounded, to not feel any guilt at the end of it all. 

 

****************************************************************************************************  
Lovell woke up later than usual, turning over to look at Hermione, who was also still sleeping, which was no surprise. She’d been up late, trying not to wake her friend up, she lay flat on her back and shuffled sideways until her leg popped out from under the covers. She continued the shuffle until her leg touched the cold stone floor, she sort of fell almost, out of bed, landing not so hard on the ground. 

Her head popped up from the side of the bed, making she hadn’t disturbed Hermione when she was sure that Hermione wasn’t going to wake up, she cleaned herself up, changed her clothes and left the room. She hadn’t spoken to many people, and she was getting lonely, keeping herself locked up in her bedroom for too long. 

She closed the door quietly behind her, making sure that it didn’t wake Hermione up, once confirmed, she made her way down the corridor, looking at the stone walls, they had been cleaned and some parts covered with new tapestries, she was surprised by how quickly the Dwarves had made them, they were beautiful and colourful. Maybe she could have one made her Hermione before they left Middle Earth? and outside, to where she’d seen Tauriel and Kili the morning before. She could hear voices, laughing and talking, which let her know that the Elves hadn’t left yet, it was a surprise really, from what she’d gathered, Thranduil couldn’t wait to get out of there. 

Lovell spotted Tauriel and Kili rather quickly, not that it was unusual to see the two of them together, but it would be nice, to just sit and talk, if the conversation didn’t revolve around another Elf, one she’d yet to see. Tauriel was quick to spot her too, waving Lovell over with a smile. She didn’t know, why she felt so awkward, walking over to the Elf and sitting down, almost as though she had done something wrong, and even then, she felt silly. 

“How are you this morning, Lady Lovell?”

“I’m fine,” she answered, looking around the area where Tauriel would sit with the other Elves, why they were still here, she wasn’t sure, but she knew they would be leaving soon, with Bilbo and Gandalf. Hermione too, the thought whispered to her, and she would go with Hermione.

“You’re leaving soon?”

Tauriel nodded her head, “Yes, tomorrow, we will make way for our home.” Her eyes glanced towards Kili, sitting beside her happily.

“I’m leaving too,” Lovell told her, watching Tauriel raise an eyebrow, “Hermione’s finally able to start her research and I’m going with her.” She stretched her legs out in front of her, “Maybe I’ll stay in Mirkwood for a while if you’re there.”

Tauriel felt touched, that Lovell wanted to stay in her home, it was not as beautiful as it once was, the flowers no longer bloomed the way they once had, neither did the trees, but it would one day, “I would be happy to show you my home,” at this Lovell smiled, it was a pretty smile, she understood why Elros found her interesting, she would make sure that they would sort out the issue that had risen between them, Tauriel loved romance, she would like for Elros to experience something special, rather than the short flings he would have. 

“Well, I hope you’re ready because I am very annoying.”

Tauriel just laughed, shaking her head, “I assure you, I have spent enough time with Kili, that you cannot be as annoying as he is.”

Kili, upon hearing this quickly rose to his own defence, causing quite a bit of commotion in the otherwise quiet place. This was something Lovell was used to, her brothers were exactly the same, it was something she would good at, pushing people’s buttons. Tauriel enjoyed the interaction between the two, it was something one usually didn’t see between Elves, Kili had called it, ‘banter’, but she found she was coming to enjoy it, something different that brought people together. 

She, of course, ignored the feeling of eyes on her back, she would speak with him, in her own time. She was still too embarrassed about the breast incident. She felt like such a twat, before turning the corner, she glanced towards the corner where she knew he was standing, catching his eye before heat rushed to her cheeks and she all but sprinted towards her room. 

*********************************************************************************************************

Hermione hadn’t gotten used to sleeping alone since she’d started sharing this room with Lovell, but she had always been there when Hermione woke up. Something must have come up, she thought, looking around the room, they wouldn’t be here for much longer, instead, they would be travelling with Gandalf and Bilbo. She would miss this place, it was calming, filled with history, the sort of history that she loved so much, but Hermione needed to find some merit to her research, maybe she wouldn’t find exactly what she wanted, but there were other things that she could research. Including the history of this world, the Minister would be happy with this. 

She pulled herself from the warmth of the bed, she would need to start packing, make sure everything was in order before they made their way into this strange world, surrounded by strange people and creatures. She had just pulled her bag from underneath the bed when the door opened, and Lovell rushed in, out of breath and red in the face. She wasn’t going to ask, it had to be about that Elf.

“Are you packing already?” 

“Yeah,” Hermione shoved some clothes into the bag, “Gandalf wants to stop in Mirkwood for a while, see if there’s something we can do about the darkness covering it?”

“Okay, I told Tauriel I was going to stay for a while anyway, I wanted to see what it had to offer.”

“Mirkwood, or Tauriel?” Hermione laughed at the look of shock on Lovell’s face, “I’m joking, I know Tauriel’s with Kili, but you never know.”

Instead of answering, Lovell just helped Hermione pack up their room, they would leave the essentials out, but everything else would be packed away, “Hermione?” at the sound of her name, she looked up towards Lovell, who was staring in confusion at her bag.

“Yeah?”

“Why are we packing the Muggle way? We have wands for these things.”

“Lovell, you’re such a snob.”


	16. Hermione

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would love to hear your thoughts about my version of Hermione! I'm not too happy with her, but I think I'm getting there?? That's why the chapter is so short because I'm trying to get the hang of her~  
> Thank you for reading ^^

Hermione glanced around the library, Gandalf was supposed to be waiting for her, but she knew there was a chance he wouldn’t have been as eager as she was, maybe he had decided not to come? She panicked slightly, but quickly banished those thoughts from her mind, he would come when he came and no sooner. 

Instead, she focused her attention on the books, most of which she couldn’t read, but the illustrations were beautiful. She would ask Gandalf if he could translate some of the books for her, well, the relevant passages anyway. The library filled her with a sense of warmth, the same feeling that she had whenever she had entered Hogwarts Library, with the long rows of bookshelves, the small alcoves and sense of belonging.   
She enjoyed being by herself, even when she had been on the run with Ron and Harry, the longing she had for being alone was intense, though she loved them, her boys. Well, they weren’t her boys anymore, she thought sadly, both moving quickly on with their lives and she, in a sense, felt like they had left her behind. The rest of her thoughts were cut off when Gandalf came strolling through the door, grey robes billowing slightly around his figure, his staff in hand.

“Ah, Miss Granger, there you are.”

Maybe she had gotten the time wrong? That’s why she thought he was late? But maybe she had been early?

“Sorry,” she nervously tugged a black curl behind her ear, before it sprung back, “I came too early?”

“No, no.”

He gestured for her to sit down at one of the long tables when she had sat herself down, she was quick to pull out her notebook and some pens. Anything he said, she wanted to make sure it was written down, not wanting to forget anything. When she glanced up, Gandalf had a look of amusement on his face, with both arms folded and resting on the table.

“Now, tell me,” he stared at her intensely, “What is it you wish to know?”

“Well, I wanted to know more about you. Are you like the wizards from my world, or are the wizards here vastly different? What type of magic are you able to do?”  
The questions went on and on before she realised that all she had been asking, must have been going over his head, but it didn’t stop her from asking him more questions, just waiting for him to interrupt her.  
“Wizards, well, there are five of us here on Middle Earth, five Maiar spirits, sent to Middle Earth to help in the aid of the Free People against the threat of Sauron.”

Hermione made a mental note to ask about this Sauron later, “What about your powers?”

 

“I have both powers that are innate, and powers acquired, one would say from an external source, all sentient beings possess powers, I am known also for my wisdom, shapeshifting, immortality, foresight, equanimity and enchantment. But my abilities as an Istari, are acquired, I believe, just as your people do, I have learnt over time to harness and grow my magic.” Suddenly he looked almost, cheekily at her, before leaning forward, “I am also known for my Fireworks.”

For some unknown reason, this made her laugh, he spoke of his abilities and the only thing he truly seemed proud of were his abilities to make Fireworks. Maybe it was because it was something he had learnt on his own, like when she had cast her first wandless spell. 

Their conversation carried on for a long time, things about her world and his, the differences they had, the things in common, but Hermione had not been this interested in something in such a long time, “So, you mentioned someone called Sauron? Who is that?”

His expression changed then, he didn’t look as cheerful, “That, my dear, is a conversation for another time.”  
Hermione could understand, not wanting to talk about something that sounded so serious, she barely spoke about her own life, let alone asking someone else about there’s. 

“The school that I attended taught us magic, you may be enrolled at birth and acceptance is confirmed by owl past age eleven. Nobody in my family’s magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it’s the very best school of witchcraft there is. There was finally an answer to how I was doing all of these strange things. It’s big and scary looking, a jumble of towers, which is held up with the help of magic.”

“Fascinating.”

If it wasn’t for the look on his face, Hermione wouldn’t have thought he was interested in what she had just said, they’d been in there for a while now, Hermione was sure that Lovell was worried about her. She and Gandalf said their goodbye’s, before parting ways at the entrance to the library, Gandalf going Merlin knows where, and she headed back to her room.  
Lovell was lounging on the bed when she entered the room, she had her arms crossed and she didn’t look very happy, Hermione cocked her head to the side, “Are you okay?”

“Nine months.”

“What’s going on?”

“For nine months. You sat there and watched as I watered a fake plant.”  
Hermione chuckled nervously, yes, she remembered. Lovell had been having a hard time with her family, so she had brought her friend a cute little cactus from the Muggle World. How was she to know Lovell wouldn’t figure out that it wasn’t real? She should have just asked.

“I’m sorry.”

Hermione knew she was forgiven when Lovell flipped onto her side, making room for her on the bed, it was much later than she had originally thought it was, “There’s food for you on the table, I kept it warm for you.”   
Hermione ate the food, which was just beef, vegetable soup with bread, before changing into her nightclothes, brushing her teeth and falling into bed beside Lovell. It was already warm from where her friend had been laying not too long ago, and it wasn’t long before she felt Lovell wrapper her arms around her.

Hermione quickly drifted off to sleep, already planning for the next day, she was sure they would be leaving soon, it made sense that they wouldn’t stay here forever, but she was surprised to find that she would most defiantly miss this place. 

 

A few days later, she was packed and ready to leave, she and Lovell would be staying in Mirkwood for a short time, then travelling with Gandalf to Rivendell, the home of an Elf that could possibly help her in her research, which was very exciting. Hermione was ready to get back on the road, in a sense, it would be different, to her time with Harry and Ron, without the running and hiding from manic killers. 

She was surprised to find she was sad, to say goodbye to the Dwarves, even more so, when she was pulled into hugs by some of them. She promised that they would come back, once everything was done, to stay and then leave for good. Lovell tugged at her jacket, letting her know it was time to finally leave, the Elves had left a short time before them, but they would soon catch up, she was sure they had possibly stopped off in Dale, before reaching their home. 

“Are you ready?” 

“Yes,” Hermione picked her rucksack back up, hoisting it high on her back, “I can’t wait to stretch my legs, get some more information about the wildlife and oh, maybe Gandalf will tell me some more history stories?”

At this, Hermione rushed off after Gandalf, while she had been grabbing her bag, he and Bilbo had already made it a distance away from them, Hermione huffed as she caught up, maybe she should have dome more of this before leaving? Lovell waved goodbye once more, before lightly jogging after Hermione, she could feel the sweat building up already, by the end of this, she would possibly have passed into the afterlife.

“Hermione wait for me, I have small legs!”


	17. Hermione.

Their walk to Dale didn’t take too long, but with the way Hermione watched Lovell throw her bag on the ground, you’d have assumed they had been walking for hours. She tried to cover her laughter, but her friend just looked so exhausted, Lovell had never done as much walking as she had, and it was beginning to show. Gandalf came to her, letting her know they would be moving on soon, the King just needed to speak with Bard and they would continue on to Mirkwood. 

It was while she rested beside her friend, that an owl appeared, flying low enough to drop a letter into her lap and then it was gone. Opening the letter, she felt a rush of embarrassment and humiliation come over her, they’d forgotten about Sirius, they had left him behind and there was nothing on this Earth, more horrifying than this. If the ground opened up beneath her, she wouldn’t even try to move.

“We forgot about Sirius.”

Lovell sat up so quickly, Hermione worried that she might have whiplash, “No we didn’t.” Hermione thrust the letter into Lovell’s hands, watching her friend read it. The red of her cheeks didn’t disappear, but Hermione could almost see her soul leaving her body. 

Dear Hermione and Lovell,  
It would have been nice if you had informed me about your decisions to leave, as I find myself to have been left behind. I know you did not do this on purpose, did you girls? I will catch up to you soon, as I have things to finish here. But do not forget about this poor old man, left behind, forgotten about.  
Love,  
Sirius Black.  
P.S, I’m not really mad, have fun, don’t do anything I would.  
“Are we terrible people?”  
“Well, we obviously aren’t good people.”

Hermione snatched the letter back, before shoving it into her pocket, ignoring the snicker coming from Lovell, still laying down in the sun. it was the sound of footsteps approaching that caught Hermione’s attention, looking up, she saw Bilbo standing just in front of her. With a smile, he informed her that they were leaving, and with that, the journey to Mirkwood was set and Hermione figured that it would take 24 or more hours to get there.  
“Up you get.”  
She hoisted Lovell onto her feet, it was like lifting dead weight, of course mostly because Lovell didn’t want to move, she was quite comfortable where she had been laying, but there was no rest for the wicked. It would be a nice walk, there would be no rushing from one place to another, no having to look over her shoulder in case someone was chasing after her. She picked her own bag up, before rushing after Bilbo, glancing back once in a while to make sure that Lovell had actually begun to follow after her.  
**********************************************************************************  
Hermione was correct, it did, in fact, take just over 24 hours to get to Mirkwood, with the injured Elves having to travel slower than they usually would, Hermione didn’t mind though, on the walk, Gandalf had told her many different things about the world around them. Bilbo had been more than happy to tell her more tales of his home, it sounded lovely, she in return told them little things about herself.

“You mentioned once, Miss Hermione, that your parents would not be worried about you. Why is that?”

She could feel Lovell’s eyes burning into her back, after the war, she had been able to restore her parents’ memories, but the relationship they once shared had been damaged. They felt as though she had blindsided them, betrayed them, by running off to fight in a war that could have and would have killed her, and they would have been none the wiser to her death. Hermione understood this, she’d have felt the same way, they still send cards on occasion and she would do the same. 

“I had to remove their memories, during the war. I never told them, and they weren’t happy, of course, what parent would be?” 

The tone of her voice let them know she didn’t want to speak about it anymore, they promptly started asking Lovell about her family, did she have any siblings, how many were there, how did she and Hermione meet, on and on.

“I have eight older brothers, and I met Hermione in school, we’ve been friends for a long time.” Lovell appeared at Hermione’s side, a smirk in place, “Some could say, too long.” Hermione huffed, before pushing Lovell away from her with a laugh.  
“That was me, I said that.”

Hermione watched Lovell throw her head back and laugh loudly, this was nice, she decided, nodding her head. Travelling around with her friend, making new friends and learning new things, it was one of the many things in life that she truly enjoyed, and there was nowhere she would rather be. Except maybe her bathroom, she’d kill for a bubble bath, with a nice book and a cheeky glass of wine. Maybe Lovell would sit with her back against the tub and read to her, she’d ask her to read a Muggle book, watch her face scrunch up in confusion of the plot. They had baths here, she’d ask Lovell to read to her when they got to Mirkwood, a nice bonding session with wine and a book.

“You’re plotting something.”

Hermione shook her head, laughing, “Will you read to me later?” and she watched with a smile as Lovell pretended to think about it, knowing that she would do it anyway, really there was no need to ask. Lovell enjoyed reading, it just depended on the book. She received a nod in response, and with that, their journey continued. Hermione looked around at, the Elves in the carts and the Elves walking, she could see Tauriel in front with her shining red hair and she could also see the Elf that had caused Lovell some major second-hand embarrassment. 

“You’re going to talk to him, right?” Hermione asked her, watching Lovell’s eyes flicker towards the Elf, “You can’t stay in Mirkwood for a while and not actually speak to him, it would make things worse.”

“Worse? Hermione, he saw my nipple.”

Their conversation wasn’t private, but from the looks of it, neither Gandalf nor Bilbo wanted to hear anymore, and Hermione watched in amusement and both rushed off to join the Elves walking just a short distance from them, with Gandalf shooting them a deadly look as he rushed past them.

“Mention nipples and they all run away.” 

They were lucky that the weather seemed to be on their side, no clouds in the sky and the sun shining brightly. She’s taken her jacket off a while ago, a light breeze caressing them as they walked, she had decided to walk in her normal clothes, some black trousers, a t-shirt and jacket, assuming that the weather could turn, but it was the sound of a struggle that pulled Hermione from her musing. Turning her head, she spotted her friend struggling to pull her jumper over her head, Hermione debated for a short while, whether she should help her friend, but in the end, decided that Lovell could get herself out of the jumper. There was no need for Hermione to baby her, instead, she watched as Lovell, bent at the waist, with her jumper caught around her neck as she struggled to pull her head from the hole.

“Your head is too big,” Hermione told her with a smirk, “That’s why the jumper got stuck.”

Lovell was actually out of breath, Hermione noticed with delight, her usually composed friend, messy ponytail, sweaty forehead and red face, heavily breathing before giving Hermione quite the Muggle gesture. 

“Now, now, no need for such crass behaviour.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHAHAHAHH FUCK.  
> I was laying in bed and realised that I had literally forgotten about Sirus??? Like ahahahah, fuck haha, I'm so sorry.  
> Also, this is a little shorter because I'm thinking the next chapter will be a time skip? Idk yet tho~  
> ALSO UPDATE ON HERMIONE AND LOVELL SIMS 4 FACE THINGS;  
> Hermione: https://66.media.tumblr.com/f589cb92ca5aab286ba3364e97a9093e/tumblr_psxzm0CTNT1ucst07o1_400.png  
> (full body)
> 
> Hermione: https://66.media.tumblr.com/a2ca1733e38720a497f9741450169d3a/tumblr_psxzm0CTNT1ucst07o2_500.png  
> (face)
> 
> Lovell: https://66.media.tumblr.com/d67d70f6c4a6366fd695900f129684df/tumblr_psxzm0CTNT1ucst07o3_400.png  
> (full body)
> 
> Lovell:https://66.media.tumblr.com/d99b7eefd65ec0ce85cf528e406af06f/tumblr_psxzm0CTNT1ucst07o4_500.png  
> (face)


	18. Calm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, sorry for the long wait~  
> This chapter is very long, to make up for the wait~  
> There is also some MAJOR smut in this chapter, I hope that's okay? You can skip it otherwise.

Hermione had become so accustomed to sharing a room with Lovell, that when she finally had her own space, it was strange, being alone. She knew that Lovell was just down the corridor, possibly in a similar situation. There was so much space, Hermione didn’t really know what to do with it, should she settle in, move things around? She had already placed her books on the empty bookshelf, with some unfortunate ones having to find a place on the floor. 

But Hermione didn’t have time to think about that, she’d barely settled in, but she was eager to continue her talk with Gandalf, who was probably resting. 

She ended up walking around her room, in circles, watching the sunlight create shadows on the walls, surrounding her in soft, warm light. Until she was summoned by the King, to take a meal with him. Given a pretty dress in dusty pink, she walked the corridor behind the Guards. Tauriel was there, standing outside Lovell’s door, hoping she would be joining her, she couldn’t imagine being along with the Elven King again. He agitated her. Reminded her too much of Malfoy and his father, not his own fault, but the dislike was there.

The hall was lovely, she decided, warm and open, nothing like anything she had seen before. The King was sat at the head of the long table, there were a few people scattered around the table, including his son, he agitated her too. 

The closer she got to the table, the fewer people there spoke, as if that was any comfort. But the King stood up, gesturing her to a chair on his right, just one chair down from his son, the empty one across from her, she thought, must be for Lovell. 

She opened her mouth the speak but was cut off at the sound of furious, but muffled whispering coming from the door, both voices she recognised, Sirius must have caught up with them sooner than he said he would. The other of course, was Lovell, neither of them looked very happy, Sirius must-have case a spell, to stop people nosing in on conversations. 

But the closer they got, the less muffled the conversation was, her eyes glanced quickly to the King, who looked almost amused.

“I’m telling you, that’s how it happened!”

“You’re wrong!”

“You weren’t even there! How could you possibly tell me, that I’m wrong?”

Quicker than Hermione could blink, both Sirius and Lovell were staring at her intently, one with agitation and the other looked very smug.

“How can I help you?”

“Tell this idiot-“

“Really, name-calling. Act your age!”

She wanted the ground to open and swallow her whole if it stopped the Elven King from looking like someone had pissed in his soup, and stopped Legolas from staring intently at her like she had the answers to what was being argued about.

“Hermione, please tell Mr Black, it was Dumbledor that sent Harry on a quest that almost cost him his life, no one made him go.”

Hermione levelled Sirius with a stare, “Can we talk about this later? We’re here to eat, not argue about these things.” Something in her tone of voice, caused both to sit down and drop their heads to avoid eye-contact.

The King’s voice broke through the awkward silence, “Shall we?”

The rest of the evening went well, they were quickly joined by Gandalf and Bilbo, the enjoyed wine and delicious food, there were many things that she could say about the Elves of Mirkwood, but one thing they didn’t get wrong was the wine. It had a spice in it, that warmed her from the inside. 

She was tired though, a bone-deep tired, she would probably sleep for hours. The rest of the meal went by quickly, with some music and stories being shared, she wouldn’t say that the Elven King trusted the three of them, but some of the hostility had diminished, but she could still see the small glares he would shoot at Gandalf when he wasn’t looking.   
She’d be leaving with Gandalf in the coming days, leaving Lovell here, it was where the portal had transported them, so the chances are that it would be the only place the portal could be opened again. Lovell would be okay though, she wasn’t stupid enough to piss off anyone too badly.

With a polite curtsey, she and Lovell left the hall, the sound of Sirius’ laughter following in their wake. Instead of letting Lovell disappear into her own room, Hermione pulled her into her own, where the bath she had asked for was waiting, she’d been told it was unusual for a bath to be taken in one’s room, but this was for something more intimate than just a wash. 

She was quick to heat the water off, all but ripping her clothes off, before she stepped into the hot water, as she lowered herself into the water, Lovell had picked up a book, as Hermione relaxed, Lovell began to read. It was a Muggle book, Hermione didn't pay attention to which one it was, only that she finally had her warm bath and her friend reading to her.

This is what she had missed, the relaxing bath, with a deep voice to lull her into comfort. 

The days after this came and went quicker than she was aware of, suddenly her bags were all packed, the room bare and the Elves saying their goodbyes, especially Tauriel. Who had spent quite a lot of time with the witch in her days here, it was nice? Lovell had made sure that Hermione packed some sketchbooks and pencils with her, for her, when Hermione came back to collect her. Show her all the things she wouldn't see, while Hermione marked them down for her. 

When the day Hermione was leaving came, she wasn’t surprised to find Lovell curled around her in the bed, nor was she surprised by the tears and sad looks as she was followed from her room, Sirius had come to say goodbye too, he himself was heading back to Dale for a short time, until Hermione could send them all home.

Gandalf and Bilbo met her at the doors, both surprised when Lovell hugged them tightly, threatening through her tears, to kill them both if Hermione came back injured in any way. Even Tauriel had come to say goodbye, giving her a cloak, to keep her warm, the King and his son came to give them a blessing for their long journey. 

Legolas had even taken her hand in his, kissing it gently, with a whispered goodbye. That was strange, she thought. 

It would be a long journey, something she wasn’t unused to, she’d made sure her shoes would keep her feet comfortable, her clothes waterproof and her head full of longing for more, more of what she couldn’t be sure, but she was ready for it. Gandalf had told her that Elrond was not like the Elven King, he didn't care much for who came into his home, as long as they respected his home and his people. 

She just hoped Lovell wouldn’t be too lonely on her own.

**********************************************************************************

The feast had been going on for a while now, Lovell knew that the elves were inclined to party for hours upon hours if they wished it, they never lost their energy the way that she did. That’s why she’d had to sneak away, Merlin knows that they would have tried to make her stay, have a few more drinks and in honesty, she was kind of already off her face. Drunk, she was drunk, emotional and most of all lost. How could she have gotten herself lost? She’d been living here for months now, she was happy that she had been left behind, there was no chance that she would have been able to keep up with all the walking, the researching and meeting of new people. Elves were very attractive, they made working easier, they never bothered her, and they mostly kept to themselves, except for one. Elros, her minder as she called him, hadn’t left her alone since they came to Mirkwood, following her around, making sure she was eating and sleeping. That’s why she’d snuck away, she needed a break from him and his fussing, which considering how he’d treated her during her bedridden days was so weird. 

She found herself in one of the open spaces, looking around, she should have gone straight to her room, but she didn’t know where it was, and it was a lovely night, a cool breeze moved her hair around. Spotting a bench underneath some overhanging trees she sat down, it was far enough away she nobody could find her, but she could still hear the music, the laughter and the singing. She just didn’t see him, standing there, watching her and coming closer.

“My lady?”

“Ah, Elros,” she couldn’t hide the slight disdain in her voice, “What are you doing here?”

“I became worried for you, I noticed that you indulged in the wine.”

A flush came rushing from her chest to her cheeks, why did he have to point it out? He could have just ignored her, “I was, drowning my sorrows,” it wasn’t a lie, but there wasn’t as much sorrow as there was just being lonely, she wasn't the most social person in the world, but there were times where she wanted nothing more than the over-indulgent balls her parents would throw and force her into going to, but Elves made it very difficult to socialise and make friends with them, when they all looked like they’d been carved by some kind of God. Merlin, she needed another drink. 

He’d come to sit beside her at this point, looking conflicted, probably because he’d never had to think about his life the way she did, he knew what he was doing, working for the king and protecting his home, “You are, lonely?” her head swirled to look at him, eyebrows furrowed in confusion, was she so see-through? That was embarrassing, she’d been here too long, if he was able to read her emotions so well, then there was a chance she’d be taking Hermione up on her offer to travel to Dale and spend some time there. 

“There's no need to say it like that.”

But he’d reached his hand out, tracing it over her jaw and up over her ear, “I have always been confused by your kind, mortals,” he kept tracing the lines of her face, “You do not react in the same way an elleth would have I touched them in the same way.”

His hand kept outlining her face, his fingers left tingles in their wake, getting closer to her face, she probably looked like a strawberry, he was intense in his staring, it didn’t make her uncomfortable anymore, he’s been doing the staring thing a lot lately. It wasn’t like he was touching her inappropriately, Hermione had often touched her face like this, but what she wasn’t expecting, was the lips brushing against her cheek, stopping at the corner of her mouth. His hand landed on hers, wrapping his fingers around hers, his lips stayed against the corner of her mouth like he was waiting for her to pull away, but she was still in shock, where had this come from? They had become friendly, considering he’d kept watch over her for a while, but was he interested in her? Or was he bored, waiting for one of the beautiful elleth’s to come out of the feast? In the end she pulled away, missing the look of hurt that flashed across his face, but she didn’t have the chance to pull her hands away, he kept them in a firm grip.

“I am sorry if I have overstepped. I must have been mistaken, I was told you were, interested in me.”

She was bewildered, she had only told one person about her interest in the Elvish guard, “Who told you! It was Tauriel wasn't it?" She wanted to cross her arms, but both of his hands were keeping them in her lap, she sighed, “Look, yeah, I like you. But you’re also offensively attractive and I’m sure there’s somebody better for you, like that pretty Elleth I saw you with yesterday.” She looked over at him and was shocked to see the look of utter amusement on his face, but then he laughed, and that laugh? It did things to her. 

“No, Deli,” he pulled her closer to him now, his free arm coming around her shoulder and playing with her hair, cutting off any words that were going to come out of her mouth, he was so close to her now. It wasn’t like Lovell to be shy around a male, she’d had boyfriends and girlfriends in the past. Why was one, albeit incredibly attractive elf, causing her to lose her thoughts. “It is you that captivates me, your words, your beauty.” He brushed his nose against her cheek, he found her to be memorising, everything about her drew him in, he wanted nothing more than to kiss her, would her lips be sweet, and as soft as they looked? Would she allow him to do so or would she push him away and leave him alone sitting on the bench? His mind flashed back to when he had kissed her, moons ago in the bathroom of her room in Erebor, it had been quick, no time to think about the surface of her lips and he had left as quickly. 

“I’m, not good enough for someone like you, have you seen yourself?”

His hands grabbing her face cut her off, his eyes were darker now, “Do not say things like that,” he moved his hands to run them through her hair, “Do not even think them.” He must have known her weakness of hers, but there was nothing to say once his lips crashed against hers, he pulled away, smirking at the red flush gracing her cheeks and he was right. Her lips were soft and sweet, cutting her off with another kiss before she could say anything, this time pushing his tongue into her mouth, dancing with hers expertly, an unfair battle for dominance. Her hands came up and gripped his shirt, she could taste the wine he had been drinking on his tongue, but underneath all that, was a taste that must have been distinctly his. A sweet taste, that had she been standing, would have her knees weak, but her head was spinning, without warning, she was pulled over onto his lap. 

Opening her eyes and staring into dark green eyes, he was smirking at her, one that was borderline mischievous, but his eyes held another look, something she couldn’t distinguish. He rubbed his nose against her cheek, resting his forehead against yours, just allowing himself this tender touch.

“You are faultless, just the way you are,” a lighter kiss was placed on her lips, “I would not have you any other way, just as you are now.”

She felt the blood rushing to her face, the intensity of his look, the flush growing hotter when his lips starting leaving butterfly kisses alongside her jaw, until he came to her ear, gently he took it between his teeth and nibbled at it softly, causing her to gasp, “If you do not believe me, then I am more than happy to prove it to you.” He whispered into her ear, the words sent a shiver down her spine and caused a familiar heat to pool in her lower stomach, he felt her shiver and he felt elated at the response he lured from her. He picked her up, her arms wrapping around his neck for support, he carried her discreetly through the halls to her room, he was glad in that moment, that he had left early after seeing that she too, had disappeared. 

He was pleased that there were no others walking around the halls. Once they had come to her door, he opened it, before kicking it shut and carrying her over to the bed, she had moved it, so it was pushed against the window. The moonlight casting a glow over the bed, and her, once he placed her onto the bed. She propped herself up, watching him remove his boots before he climbed in after her, he was like a predator, hovering over her like she was his prey, legs and arms on either side of her, trapping her beneath him, his eyes dark, hungry. She prayed to Merlin that nobody would come looking for her.

He leant down toward her, biting at her bottom lip, pushing her back so that she fell with her back against the mattress as she brought her hands up to cup his face, he deepened the kiss and the heat in her lower stomach was becoming warmer. His mouth moved down to her neck, feather-light touches of his lips on her heated skin, leaving a trail of fire wherever he had kissed. He let his body press down against her own, his teeth bit gently at the skin below her ear, how he knew that was a sensitive sport, she didn’t know, but the noise she made would haunt his dreams he knew. He smiled against her neck, taking the flesh into his mouth, sucking and biting, he wanted to hear her make those noises again, her hands made their way into the silky dark tresses, tired neatly behind hid head. The biting was nice, she thought to herself, but the sound he made when she pushed her fingers through his hair was delightful. 

He brought trailed his hand down her side, before trailing further down to the hem of her dress, pushing it up slowly, stopping it at her waist, going underneath it and touching the soft flesh of her stomach. His mouth reclaiming her, wanting to savour each second, as though she may wish to stop, or simply vanish and he would not have the chance to do this again. His fingers trailed up her stomach, kneading the flesh, before bringing his lips once again down her neck, across her collarbone, nipping gently, before biting harder, causing her to gasp and whimper at the sweet pain. He was suddenly annoyed at the dress she was wearing, it was covering too much, he pulled her into a sitting position, before pulling the dress over her head and throwing it aside. She didn’t cover herself, and he was pleased by this, she didn't fear him. She was beautiful, her stomach soft, large hips and breasts, so unlike the body of his kind, he was quick to remove his own clothing, and she couldn’t look away from him. There was no way to describe him, he might as well kill her now, because she had seen Heaven, he was pale, but it was the muscles that distracted you. How could he be so beautiful? Hermione had shown her a statue once, of a man named David, but even then, it had nothing on Elros’s six-pack, and she couldn’t look away. He was all hard muscle, sculpted edges. He smirked, picking up where he’d left off, continued down to her chest, his eyes were glued to her, she shied away from his gaze for the first time.

“Beautiful.” 

A flash of insecurity came over her quickly, she tried to cover herself, who wouldn’t. But Elros was quick to stop her, grabbing her wrists and pinned them above her head, she couldn’t do anything but blush under the examining stare. It was like he was looking straight into her soul, there was a tenderness there that she wasn’t expecting, it made her shake. There were a few seconds of him staring at her naked body, but it felt like an eternity of him gazing at her, drinking in everything that she had to offer him. She didn’t feel like she deserved such admiration, if anything, she should be the one admiring him, he was of course, oblivious of her thoughts, the way he was looking at her like she was some goddess. But his hands making their way onto her breasts and kneading them, wiped all those thoughts out of her head, even more so when his teeth bit her ear again, with every bite he would whisper things to her. 

“You are beautiful, my Melethil,” he licked the base of her neck before he sank his teeth into it and sucked hard enough, she knew there would be a mark, but the sounds coming out of her mouth spurred him on, whispering “Mine.” The entire time, desire dripping from every word coming out of his mouth, before he crashed his mouth against hers again, his hands letting go of hers, to trail down over her chest. His body following, he stopped at her chest, before he took a nipple into his mouth, sucking gently, her hands ran through his hair again and he looked up at her. Seeing her expression he sucked with determination, watching the way her face twisted with pleasure, moaning through parted lips.

“Ah!” she gasped when he bit down, it sent a jolt of pleasure down her spine, her fingers tightened in his hair, pulling his head back. A deep noise came from deep within his chest, the corner of his lips twisted into a smirk, his eyes closing at the sensation of her tugging on his hair. But he jolted when her hand brushed against his ear, but before she had a chance to notice, he was diving down to attack the other nipple. 

She desperately wanted to ease the friction between her legs, shifting underneath his weight, and in doing so, her knee brushed against him, he stopped sucking on her nipple to moan at the feeling, it was an almost silent moan, but she heard it. She cautiously did it again but applied more pressure, she took her time, wanting him to feel the same way he was making her feel.

“Hmm,” it was hushed, his eyelids slid closed, his breath quickened, he prayed silently that she did not find out that the ears of an elf were sensitive, and could bring an elf to orgasm if stimulated for long enough. He kissed his way back up her throat, over her chin and he stopped at her lips, tongue invading her mouth as her knee teased him through his trousers. She swallowed the moans he gave to her, the little sounds causing butterflies to erupt in her stomach. 

They parted momentarily, Lovell tried to catch her breath, but she didn’t miss the way that his breath had become shallow, “You make me feel foolish,” his lips touched her gently again, “As though I am but a young Ellon again.” 

“Because you’re older than dirt?”

He bit her bottom lip hard in response, forcing his knee between her legs, pushing them apart, he pulled away to look down at her again, stopping her own from brushing against him. 

"Do not play games, that you cannot win."

The words were a warning, and with his eyes still staring deeply into her own, his fingers pressed against her in sweet revenge. Her body reacted instantly, squirming underneath him, she had never been one to plead for anything, not when it came to sex or anything else, but he had her begging.

"Please...."

"Yes?"

He smiled at her, it was wicked, filled with amusement, his hand rubbed against her hand, "Please what?", she didn't think his eyes could get any darker, but it was hard now, to see where his pupils ended and the iris began. Her face was flushed, burning hot, biting her lip, she threw her head back against the pillows, her breath heavy, shuddering from his touching. Elros didn't stay still for long, his lips kissing across her skin, waiting for an answer to his question. His hands had moved, trailing across her body now, everywhere, except for where she wanted them to be.

"Elros..." she groaned, feeling as his mouth attached to the sensitive skin of her neck, he hummed in response, "I want you."

"I am yours," he whispered, burying his face into her neck. 

He groaned, when he saw her clutching at her hair, he knew she was frustrated, but he could do this all night, for as long as she would allow him to. She figured out, he was a tease, he must enjoy hearing the begging, knew which buttons needed to be pushed.

"Touch me."

His hand drifted up to brush against her nipple, "I am." but really, all he wanted to hear were those little gasps and moans she would let out. "Tell me what it is you wish for, and I shall give it to you, rid you of those thoughts in your head, I will show you what you mean to me."

He made direct eye-contact with her, lips brushing against her lightly, touches that left her wanting more. 

She lifted her head high enough to close the gap between them, sealed with a harch kiss, rough, hands coming up to frame his face, trying to pull him closer to her, her hips bucking up towards his, desperate for something, anything. His body shook with silent laughter, pulling away from the kiss, cocking his eyebrow into question.

"Will you tell me?"

Those dark eyes are fixed intently on her, urging her to say what it was that she wanted. 

She groaned, letting her head fall back again, "I.." she started, but the words wouldn't come out of her mouth. She sighed, keeping her eyes turned away from his, "I want you to fuck me."

If he was put off by her phasing, he didn't let it show, instead, his lips twitched and his eyes darkened even more than she thought possible.

"It would be my pleasure."

Any remaining clothing was quickly removed, "Lift yourself." he cooed at her, pulled the dress down, throwing it somewhere behind him, his hands are instantly at her plush, round hips, pulling her down so that their bodies were pressed together, her legs instantly wrapping around his waist, as he leant down to kiss her feverishly, shoving his tongue into her mouth forcefully. She was annoyed, he still had his trousers on, her hands tumbled down towards the laces keeping them closed, but he put a stop to that, swatting her hands away with a smirk.

"Not yet."

But anything she would have said, her breath leaving her when she felt his hand sliding up her thigh, rubbing her hip. Shivers were running down her spine, trembling, her body's way of letting him know what she wanted, and who was he to deny her?

His finger slid over her in one, quick movement, she couldn't stop the gasp from leaving her mouth, her breath was stolen when he pushed his mouth against her own. Her moans were lost in the kiss when he pushed his thumb against her clit. The sounds she was making as he rubbed circles, her involuntary twitches, the way her legs tightened around his waist. He pulled away from her mouth, his own breath shuddering.

He watched her, the way she reacted to his simple touches, one small flick and her back arched slightly, some more pressure and her fingers dug into his skin, whichever part of him she could attach her hands to. He wanted her to use her words, instead of using her words, she bucked into his hand. He quickly swooped down, forcing his tongue into her mouth, wanting to explore her, he felt as though he had been deprived of her, drinking her in. Any thought Lovell allowed into her head, were quickly thrown out, when he slid his fingers inside of her easily, it let him know exactly how he was affecting her. She let out a loud, breathy moan, as she parted from the kiss, letting her head be embraced by the pillows, her throat on display for him. He was not one to waste an opportunity. His mouth was instantly sucking at the front of her throat, he wanted to mark her. Leave something of him behind, if she would not have him after. Let others know she belonged to him.

It was slow at the beginning like he was trying to not break her.

"I adore you," he whispered into her ear, "You are everything to me."

Moans of pleasure met everything he said to her, "Tell me, you will never think less of yourself." his fingers curled inside of her, hitting that sweet spot that caused her vision fo blur. She can't get her words out, only a broken stutter of his name leaving her, all thoughts leaving her, as quickly as they came, numbed by the sensation he's giving her, he's going faster now, not too fast, but enough for the difference is abysmal, especially with his thumb working tirelessly. 

"Tell me." His voice is a growl against her ear, teeth closing around it, biting gently.

The noise that came out of her was short of filthy, but it only served to send heat through his veins, coursing through his body, it makes him move his fingers faster, desperate for more of those noises to leave her mouth, for him.

"I swear." 

He mumbled his pleasure against her neck, he could feel her heart beating faster against him, the pleasure building up inside of her. Her toes curled against the mattress, arching her back up against him, her hands coming up to grip onto his shoulder, fingers digging into the skin. His pace is unyielding, pushing her closer, closer to the edge. She's so close the edge when everything stops. His fingers, all sensation, her breath leaving her harshly.

"Not yet."

She watched as he brought his hand up from between her legs, watched as he licked his fingers clean from knuckly to tip. His eyes closing as he gave a mumble of appreciation,  
her breath leaves her. Her breath harsh still.

"I have not finished with you yet."

It sounded like a promise, as he kissed his way down her body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TBC~  
> Should I finish it off in the next chapter? Or should I just leave it there?


	19. Travelling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aha, hi (:  
> short chapter, but i hope you enjoy it~

Italics- Elvish

Lovell woke up with a grimace, sunlight burning through her closed eyelids and when she turned onto her side, she was shocked when arms wrapped around her waist and an obvious humanoid body was flush against her back. But quick flashbacks of the night before came speeding through her mind, she knew instantly who it was and honestly, she wanted to sleep more before she would have to speak with him.

What he changed his mind and found her repulsive? 

What he’d been drunk, and she’d basically taken advantage of him.

She wanted nothing more than to curl up and pretend nothing ever happened. Did that make her a bad person? Probably. Was she going to be drowning in guilt for the rest of her life? Of course, she was, but that didn’t change the fact that he would, one hundred per cent, regret sleeping with her. She prayed to Merlin, that he wouldn’t talk about this with anyone else. She couldn’t handle that much humiliation. 

“You think too loudly.”

How could someone sound even more attractive when they’ve just woken up? Because Damnit, Elros had an attractive voice anyway, but his morning voice made her feel things that basically screamed sin.

“I don’t know what you just said, but rude.”

He chuckled behind her, his breath brushing the back of her neck, and his arms wrapped tightly around her waist, his body was just warm enough, that she could feel sleep dragging her back in, and she didn’t fight it. He could leave if he wanted too because honestly, she hadn’t gotten enough sleep to really, truly deal with anything this early.

“Sleep, love, the day had not begun yet.”

She felt him kiss her shoulder, before placing his head down and incredibly, pulling her even closer, yes, she decided. She would deal with everything when she actually had too, right now she was going to sleep and dream sweet dreams.

**********************************************************************************

Hermione couldn’t truly say that she was that much of an outdoorsy person, but right now? Right now, she wanted nothing more than to bask in the beauty of the mountains that she walked past, all the different flowers and plants that she walked past. When she had the chance, she pulled out her notebook and quickly sketched anything and everything that she could. Bilbo was extremely helpful, telling her the names of the plants and flowers she saw, telling her little facts about them, what they could do, how they could help people and which ones would kill someone if not prepared correctly.

They weren’t too far from Rivendell now, having stopped in with Beorn once they had left Mirkwood, helping around his home, before moving off again. Hermione wouldn’t say they took a long way around, obviously, she hadn’t journeyed with them the first time, but she would bet anything in her bag on Gandalf taking them across longer paths and through more dangerous mountain passes, but she wasn’t angry.  
For the first time in a long time, she felt free and happy. Like nothing was holding her back, no Harry or Ron to ask her to do anything. There was no running for her life, no insane wizards or witches chasing after her. It was like she had been trapped inside a birdcage and someone had come and set her free, leaving her to fly free and there was nothing to hold her back.

They had stopped for the night, in a cave that she was quick to ward, make sure nothing unsavoury or worse, found them while they were at their most vulnerable. It was pulling out the sleeping bags that always made her laugh, no matter how many times she did this, Bilbo would react with wonder every single time. Like every time, was the first time.   
Bilbo happened to be an excellent cook, it was amazing what he could do with the most basic ingredients like right now, he was making a stew with potatoes and dried meat, but Hermione would tell anyone who would listen, that it was the nicest stew she had ever eaten. She just couldn’t figure out how he did it, a natural talent she supposed. But one of these days, she would ask for a cooking lesson, how shit cool would it look, if she went home and then suddenly, she could cook like Molly Weasley? It would be the fucking shit.  
The days began repeating themselves, the flowers were still beautiful, the mountains were still green, and the sky stayed blue with no sight of a cloud, that was of course until they actually finally made it to Rivendell. 

Hermione was furious, the rain had started as a drizzle and then, as though summoned by some God, the rain poured down like nothing she had ever seen, it was as though something was trying to stop them from actually getting to Rivendell. Which would be a shame, because she was so excited to see everything that Gandalf has promised. Her clothes were wet, soaked through, her hair felt heavy and she wished she had thought to wear a raincoat, and shoes that would have actually kept the water out. 

They walked as quickly as they could, with the rain falling heavier, until they could barely see in front of them, and Hermione thought to herself, that they could literally be heading towards the edge of a cliff and they wouldn’t know until it was too late, and they were already falling to their deaths. Which would be a really shitty way to go, Hermione Granger, War Heroine, death by the cliffside. 

She could see Harry and Ron laughing at her, but shaking her head she just continued to follow Gandalf and keep an eye on Bilbo, who was struggling more than she was, with his smaller legs, but she kept a part of his cloak gripped tightly in her hand, because she knew, if they lost Bilbo, they wouldn’t have been able to find him in this downpour. 

She heard Gandalf call out a greeting, she prayed to Merlin that they had finally reached their destination, she reached out her spare hand, waiting for it to fall onto Gandalf’s back, but her hand met cold metal, sliding down and falling off.

“My Lady, this way.”

A hand reached out and took her gently, pulling her along, Bilbo still in her grip, before they entered an entrance, the rain stopping quickly and she sighed in relief. The hand on her arm dropped and she found a thick blanket being placed over her shoulders, the light from Gandalf’s staff was actually working now, highlighting the place they had been brought into and she was so happy, if nobody else had been there, she would have definitely cried with relief. 

“We shall reside here until the rain clears.”

Hermione was too busy looking through her bag, making sure nothing had gotten wet, her books were fine, her notes were fine, and she sighed in relief. She would have been furious if anything had been damaged, all that work down the drain and she would have had to go all the way back and again just to record everything again. 

She looked around the tent, how the tent wasn’t also soaked through was amazing, it was big, warm and cosy. There were two male Elves sitting with Gandalf, one had been the one to pull her into the tent. They were twins, almost unconsciously she thought of Fred and George, but not wanting to dwell on past memories, she pulled Bilbo towards a chair, pushing him in and making sure he was okay. It wouldn’t due for Bilbo to catch a cold, make him ill before he could enjoy Rivendell again, without Erebor hanging over him, instead he could relax and enjoy everything that the city has to offer. 

Were they safe here, she pondered, would they mind if she placed some protection charms around? Or would they become uncomfortable and tell Gandalf that she had to leave? No, she thought, Gandalf wouldn’t let her be kicked out in this weather, especially not when he promised that Elrond would help her with some research. 

“Salvio hexia.” 

She whispered the spells, making sure not to bother anyone, but was there something magical about the tent? It felt strange, as she cast the charm like the tent was embracing it and Hermione noted that she would have to ask Elrond or Gandalf about it, it would be amazing if the Elvish fabric was able to embrace magic as part of itself.

“Miss Hermione, you must get dry, before you catch a cold.”

Bilbo’s voice sounded from behind her, she pushed her wand back up her sleeve, before turning back to the four people positioned around in chairs, making direct eye contact with Bilbo before casting the Hot-Air Charm, to dry off her soaked clothing, which caused Bilbo to huff and cross his arms across his chest.

“I’m warm.”

This action had caught the attention of the Elvish twins, one narrowed his eyebrows in confusion and the other’s eyes lit up as if someone had just given him a lovely gift. It was the excited one that leaned forward from where he was sat, gesturing to her.

“You are like Mithrandir? An Istari?”

He sounded so excited, that Hermione only had a slight feeling of guilt when she told him that no, she wasn’t an Istari like Gandalf, but instead was a witch and no, she cut in before either of them could say anything, she wasn’t evil, and she wasn’t going to sacrifice them to some otherworldly Gods. 

Both looked amused after her small rant, before beckoning her closer, to sit by them, and that’s when the questions truly began, and Hermione could see her spirit leaving her body as their voices flowed through her head.

“Where have you been living? We have not heard of a witch in these parts.”

“Can you do anything else?

“Can we learn these spells you cast?”

“How old are you?”

“Where are your mother and father?”

She let the questions roll over her, answering the ones that made her laugh, leaving out the ones that didn’t interest her or she couldn’t really answer. But it was nice, was this what she had been like when Minerva first visited her family and told them she was a witch? Filled with excitement and confusion about what was happening, how would it affect her life, and would there be others like her? 

The rain was still pouring, tapping heavily against the fabric of the tent and Hermione allowed it to lull her into a warm cocoon, filled with voices and warmth. She would have to send a message to Lovell, let her know what was going on, keep her updated and let her know she was okay, and the trip had gone well. She nodded to herself, she would do that first thing, once the rain has cleared up and they could continue onto Rivendell.


End file.
